Ties of Generations Past
by Cielmatica
Summary: The future should have changed...and it did. By a fraction. Tsuna honestly didn't think that the Millefiore family would still operate. He had woken up from his year long slumber expecting trouble to be over. He was mistaken. And a vision from Yuni? One that concerns his existence? Not to mention, it was seriously getting complicated with Tsuna being in the dark of 'his' own plans.
1. Chapter 1

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**Enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. (Forgot to put this in)**

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><p>"By the way…"<p>

"Where's Tsuna?"

"Ah, Tsunayoshi-kun went up already."

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><p>A gravity defying brunet walked towards the center of the forest where the coffin of Vongola Decimo lies. He smiled at the words disappearing from his middle school journal before turning towards a tree, a few feet away from where he stood.<p>

"You don't need to hide, you know," he said softly.

A baby wearing a black fedora trimmed with orange in a stylish black suit with a yellow pacifier in the middle jumped down professionally from the tree and walked towards the brunet.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn started, "Did you really need to do that elaborate plan of yours just to beat Byakuran?"

The brunet looked at his tutor for a while before facing himself towards the calm, peaceful blue sky.

"That was the only way left." Tsuna replied slowly. "My past-self did managed to beat him with the help of Giotto and-"

"Not that," Reborn interrupted. While Tsuna waited for Reborn to continue, he promptly sat on the ground to give his tutor his full attention.

"Did you really need to die?" Tsuna blinked and noticed Reborn's fedora that hung low covering his face.

Tsuna smiled a little before replying, "It was deemed necessary. If I just went into hiding, Byakuran would have lured me out using those precious to me and killed all of us either way. And technically, I didn't die. Besides Reborn, you died before I did. And a positive thing to add is that those died especially you came back to life."

"Don't act smart Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna chuckled lightly. "Ah, gomen Reborn. Maybe I did get carried away. My guard- no my famiglia did believe I was dead for quite a while. Except for Hibari. They're probably angry with me right now."

"That's what you get for dying."

Tsuna didn't say anything back, merely enjoying the moment of silence with his tutor. Tsuna would have admitted that seeing Reborn alive, lifted some weight over him and would have hug him the moment he came into his vision but being Reborn, Tsuna would have felt any affection shown toward his tutor would be a result of him getting a kick from Reborn thus earning a comical reunion. However, the gesture was not needed as Tsuna knew through his developed hyper intuition that Reborn felt the same way about his student alive. So, all in all, Tsuna thought it was a fair trade. Plus, Reborn never showed affection as his pride as the world greatest hitman seemed to be his first priority.

"Ne, Reborn-" Tsuna began when he heard footsteps coming from his right. Tsuna saw his right hand man, Gokudera Hayato looking relieved and furious.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera shouted. He closed the space between him and Tsuna spewing curses in different languages calling Tsuna idiot in Japanese and finally hugged his boss that seemed a bit amused at the expected reaction of his right hand man. Gokudera later took notice of his actions and immediately asked for forgiveness. Tsuna was about to calm him down when shouts from his other guardians echoed through the forest.

"Tsuna!"

"Sawada!"

"Boss!"

"Tsuna-nii!"

One by one, his guardians came with Hibari being the last. Hibari as he always is, leaned against a tree that was close enough to hear all of them yet still far away from them. Tsuna was happy enough that none of them got hurt when Yamamoto, Ryohei, Lambo and Chrome jumped towards him. Even though Tsuna was sitting down, the four managed to drag him towards the ground. Each had their arms wrapped around him tightly. Reborn smirked at the scene while Hibari looked towards the reunion with little interest. Tsuna hugged them back tightly, expressing the happiness he could not put into words into his actions. Even though the moment seemed short with Gokudera yelling at the others to get off his beloved Juudaime, Tsuna could see he was relieved making Tsuna cherished the moment with his heart. After making sure that Tsuna wasn't an illusion and Ryohei checking for his pulse, the guardians let go of him.

"Juudaime." Tsuna focused his attention on Gokudera who began to berate himself for not being there for his boss when he got shot.

"Hayato, stop. It wasn't your fault. I planned all of this. Considering that the Arcobaleno shared memories of the future to past selves, you should already know that I was responsible for this. So there's no need for you to do that. I'm the one that should be saying sorry. I put you guys through a tough time and-"

"Maa, maa, Tsuna. It's alright. You did all of this for us, right?" Takeshi said smiling. He still hasn't berated his friend for the danger he put himself but Yamamoto felt that he could do that tomorrow.

"That's right, Sawada! In return for that shock you gave us and your past-self telling Kyoko about the mafia, I want to punch you again extremely!" Ryohei responded.

"Ore-sama will forgive Tsuna-nii since Tsuna-nii is my subordinate!" Lambo replied nonchalantly.

"Ahou-shi, what the hell are you saying?" Hayato smacked Lambo on the head thus earning a glare from the cow. "There's no need for you to be sorry, Juudaime. My skills as your right hand man are still not up to standards. How can I not forgive my boss who's forgiven me for the past ten years?"

Hibari simply glanced at Tsuna muttering, "Herbivore."

Chrome smiled quietly and passed a look to Tsuna who understood. She understood that Tsuna did this so all of them wouldn't have to suffer. Also, Mukuro came back thanks to his past self. Tsuna felt his spirits lifted despite his state and replied, "Thank you everyone."

Feeling that enough time has been wasted, Reborn getting into his old habits kicked Tsuna at the back of his head lightly for the first time. "Let's go, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna gingerly rubbed his head agreeing with his tutor. "Ahaha. Hai, Reborn."

He let his guardians get up first before he did himself; seeing them fully for the first time since his return . The moment he stood upright, a wave of nausea clouded his mind. He gasped silently and glanced towards his guardians who were all waiting for him. He motioned for them to go first. Reborn noticing something off with Tsuna turned to his student cursing softly.

"Don't Reborn. Not in front of them," Tsuna strictly whispered to his tutor but his Cloud guardian who heard the exchange raised an eyebrow to the matter. Reborn, not taking no for an answer, sternly gazed at his student making Tsuna cringed inwardly. Tsuna sighed in defeat and turned to explain the situation when Yamamoto called out, "Tsuna?"

Both his Storm and Rain guardians looked towards him, confusion etched on their faces as to why their boss hadn't even taken a step.

"Coming!" Tsuna shot Reborn a look that said I'll tell you everything later. The moment Tsuna took a single step, the nausea stronger than the last overwhelmed the brunet's mind. His vision clouded and the intensity of the pain forced him to give in. These effects caused Tsuna to stumble, his functioning legs giving out. Tsuna barely saw his guardians running towards him as he fell; one of them hoping to catch their boss in time. There was no need as Hibari caught the young boss and saw Tsuna's breathing going slower who managed to say "Sorry" before efficiently passing out.

(::::::::::: # :::::::::::)

Hibari felt the brunet's body go limp as he lost conscious. He muttered something that suspiciously sounded like Tsunayoshi before carrying the unconscious boss towards the pack of panicking herbivores. He gave Tsuna to Gokudera, just nodding towards the holder of the yellow pacifier and disappeared towards the trees. Gokudera and the others were asking what happened when a gunshot echoed through.

"Gokudera, get Tsuna to the medical bay, quickly. Ryohei go with them. Now," Reborn ordered.

The two guardians hastily went back to their base with the others hot on their heels.

"Always making others worry for you, Dame-Tsuna."

(:::::::::::!.!:::::::::::)

It turned out that Tsuna who had just come out of his paralysis state needed rest. The doctors explained due to the sudden use of his body functions which have not been able to move for a full year strained his body into moving around too much. Everyone sighed in relief to find out there was no side effects from the bullet.

"Wasn't it just like I told you?" Shoichi said nervously when Gokudera had demanded why the brunet had fainted a moment ago.

"Che. How do we know if we could trust you?" Gokudera retorted. Gokudera had mixed feelings about Irie Shoichi as he was the person who killed yet saved his boss.

"Gokudera, enough. He helped warned Tsuna of the danger and better yet helped trained your past selves." Reborn stated.

Gokudera could not answer back the logical reason but he could not help the feeling of frustration towards himself and Irie Shoichi.

"Ahem, as I was saying before all of you interrupted me," the doctor obviously annoyed continued, "I advise you to let him rest before letting him do anything. Whether it's signing paperwork or sparing with you, the stress accumulated will not help speed his recovery. I'm glad Decimo is back but please keep the excitement to a minimum." The last statement was more of a plea as almost everyone knew how boisterous the family was when Tsuna was involved.

The last time they were in the medical bay, a wall had collapsed due to the over-excitement of the Sun guardian when Tsuna had woken up from exhaustion of signing paperworks. This later caused Tsuna to pass out from thoughts of extra paperwork earning a frantic Gokudera who insulted the Sun guardian which lead to a face-off of insults. Yamamoto was laughing his usual self, enjoying the scene while Chrome was staring at them confused at what to do and Lambo ignored them commenting of them being childish. Unfortunately, the comment was unheard by Gokudera leading to another fight. At the end of the day, the medical bay was obliterated.

'Heh, you got lucky this time, Tsuna.' Reborn smirked; whether it was due to his Hyper Intuition or his years of being tutored (tortured) by Reborn, Tsuna who lied peacefully on the bed shivered.

"Now, you guys go get some sleep. It'll take that idiot student of mine to wake up in a while."

"But Reborn-san,-" Gokudera started.

"I'll stay here with Tsuna, Gokudera. Now, go before I start shooting all of you. I also believe that some of you have some issues with Tsuna unresolved."

Gokudera reluctantly left the room while Yamamoto was torn being staying with his friend and following with Gokudera, ultimately choosing the latter with help from a certain hitman. Ryohei was sent out earlier to accompany Kyoko and Haru home and Chrome sent a whisper of 'Get well soon, boss' before leaving to meet up with Mukuro. Lambo and I-pin soon trailed after. When they had all left albeit unwillingly, Reborn sat on a chair to the right of the hospital bed and doze off.

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><p>Meanwhile, news of Byakuran's demise alerted the Millefiore headquarters. The families allied with the Millefiore hastily cut off their ties and promptly left with no trace of being involved. Shouts of fear began to overwhelm the subordinates of the Millefiore.<p>

"Byakuran-sama has beed defeated!"

"What do we do?"

"The Vongola is going to take revenge!" one screamed.

That one statement sent all of them into terror. They knew of Vongola's history. Any that went against the famiglia was wiped out.

"Why are you all afraid?" A clear voice rang out calming the ocean of voices. Everyone turned to face a person cloaked in black with a hue of indigo, a hood covering his face.

"Isn't that-"

"But I thought-"

"The person Byakuran-sama-"

"People, people. I'm asking this again. Why are you all afraid?" The cloaked figure asked.

"Because Byakuran-sama is gone. The Six Funeral Wreaths have been defeated. The allied families have left us at the mercy of the Vongola!"

Laughter echoed throughout the hall. "Are you really?" Confusion covered the faces of the subordinated. The man continued to chortle slightly before continuing.

"In my opinion, the Vongola is still weak. Vongola Nono is alive but he is a frail old man. The Decimo from what I've known is alive yet destabilized by his paralysis death. We are still considered one of the most powerful famiglia in this era."

Getting the attention of the people in the room, he continued, "Wasn't it fun taking out the Vongola? One of the oldest and powerful famiglia beaten by us? A newcomer in the mafia world. There is still a ray of light for us to win and rule over the others!" He ended with that outburst and many started to agree with his way of thinking yet some were still uneasy.

"And moreover, if any of you should feel doubtful, recognise my face as the person successor to Byakuran-sama."

The cloaked man lifted his hood and many gasped. Be it beauty or atrocity, everyone was focused on the man. His eyes were still closed.

"Listen to my voice and follow what I say." His voice melodic sounding like the comfort of their beloved ones.

"Obey my command and acknowledge that I am Byakuran-sama's successor. Understood?"

"Understood." The reply came almost immediately, devoid of emotion and free will.

"Good." The man gave out a last command and opened on of his eyes revealing a kanji for the number 7.

"Now, when the Vongola orders or even tries to take back control, retaliate. Retaliate for the death of your former boss and his dishonoured guardians and in celebration of your new boss, Shichirou."

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><p><strong>AN: So this is chapter 1. I needed this to start off from where Tsuna stood before his coffin since it was vital for me anyways. Parts of this chapter has been inspired by other stories on FF. Like 'Welcome Back' by Reidluver. This note is only made for this chapter only. So if I haven't made reference to stories that are similar to yours, then I apologize as I'm a frequent visitor of FF but never a member till now. Or it's also because I haven't read it yet. Note the word 'yet' but I most probably will.**

**Please go easy on me as this is my first time doing this. This haven't been beta so I'm correcting everything. If there is anything I miss kindly point out. Also I want to ask the characters of the TYL tenth generation. Are they similar or different. I'm trying to make them as the same as possible but because of the lack of interaction with the TYL tenth generation, I'm definitely sure that some aspects of their rash behaviour is more controlled. Thank you again for those coming to read this. Giving me pointers would help me a lot so go easy on me! Hehe. ^^**

**P.S tell me if I need to keep noting that the speech is in "this" while thoughts are in 'this'. Since it won't waste time for me.**


	2. Chapter 2

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Enjoy the second chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own KHR! (I remembered to put this in!)**

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><p>Darkness. Even though his eyes were open, it was dark. The dark was nothing like being in a pitch black room, no, it was more of the surreal feeling of being encased in an endless zone of nothingness and that's what Tsuna felt. Light wouldn't be able to shine no matter how bright or strong it was because light would always go out in the end. Tsuna didn't know what to expect but anxiety; the feeling that was filling his bloodstream and when this particular feeling took over, a sense of curiosity bloom from the young boss.<p>

'Where am I?' he wondered.

'Well, in your mind of course,' came the reply.

'Wha- Who's there?' Tsuna called back, hope rising for the young brunet for there was company.

'That, you don't need to know Tsunayoshi-kun.'

The fact of having company in his mind was soothing no matter how disturbing it was. Tsuna liked to have company but having someone who knew your name and stating the fact that he was currently having a conversation in his mind was a bit too much for the young boss. Puzzled by the interaction with a person, somewhat, Tsuna speculated if the person talking to him was a persona of himself.

'You haven't gone mad yet, Tsunayoshi-kun. I am most definitely not a hidden side of your personality,' the voice said light with amusement.

'Then, are you an enemy?'

'Well, if I was, would I still be talking to you? And before you state your next question, this is not a ploy. I believe being involved in the mafia these past ten years and without your Hyper Intuition to detect if I'm lying has made you suspicious of my character. I dare say I can't blame that. Your mind **was** in a state of death and although this shouldn't have affected your Hyper Intuition, I believe it's a side effect.'

'Wait, what do you mean? Side effect? My intuition was fine when I woke up. I could sense Reborn hiding on a tree.'

'Ah, yes. I believe that when you got up from your 'sleep', your Hyper Intuition got… how do you young people say these days 'a jump start'. It was able to help you find Reborn but after that moment, it became to grow dull. The proof is when you asked me that question. A person with Hyper Intuition does not need to.'

Tsuna could feel his cheeks going pink if he had in his mind and would die of embarrassment if the other saw his reaction. Who wouldn't after seeing the common sense of his explanation more so if the person explaining to has Hyper Intuition? Fortunately for Tsuna, the other was occupied with another matter.

'This is not serious, your Hyper Intuition will come back but that depends on you. I will warn you though that you should be cautious of your surroundings…and of your decisions.'

Tsuna felt a sudden deeper meaning behind the given advice. Was he going to do something bad? Or worse? Before Tsuna could even ponder about the idea, his companion interrupted his thoughts.

'I'm afraid I have spent too much time here telling you unimportant stuff, Tsunayoshi-kun. I have-'

'Unimportant stuff? My Hyper Intuition is considered unimportant?' Tsuna stunned at the thought.

His companion ignored the little statement and continued, 'more vital things to discuss with you. According to a vision Yuni saw, it's not over yet.'

'Yuni? What does she have to do with this?!' Tsuna clearly agitated than ever after the memory sharing with his past self. After learning that Yuni had sacrificed herself to preserve a better future, Tsuna was immediately filled with grief. She wasn't part of his plan. If Tsuna had a say in the matter when Yamamoto said he pretended to die for the sake of them, Tsuna would have disagreed. He was no hero. Yuni was.

'Tsunayoshi-kun, you don't need to berate yourself for what Yuni did. She was the Sky Arcobaleno; a Sky like you. It's true that she sacrificed herself in the future but that doesn't mean so in the past.' The other occupant in his mind said gently.

'You said in the past. Then is she-'

'Yes, she's alive but that's all thanks to you. If you didn't plan this in the first place, Yuni wouldn't have been able to revive the other Arcobalenos. Once again you've interrupted me, please let me finish what I have to say.' The man pausing to confirm once and for all for no more disturbances, 'Yuni had a vision that nonetheless concerns you. She managed to tell me before she died. Now, I'm going to tell you. Whatever we converse about here, stays here. Even if you try to remember, you won't until I say you can. I should warn you that after our chat, you'll be lightheaded for a bit when you wake up. So, are you willing to trust what I say?'

By now, Tsuna knew something was going to happen. Ever since his acquaintance mention that it wasn't over, Tsuna felt the dread from the start of being in this place coming back. It was going to happen all over again - the planning, the secrets. But if he can't remember what's happening here, how could he stop whatever threat that was coming? Part of him told him no, he didn't have to listen to this person and Tsuna could walk away right now but another part told him, he was going to be involved in this. He had no choice. Not especially when the vision was about him. Considering the things the man had told him about his Hyper Intuition and how urgent his voice sounded, Tsuna would trust him or her. 'Sheesh, I'm starting to miss my Hyper Intuition,' Tsuna thought.

"Yes, I'll trust what you have to say." Tsuna replied both in the psychological world and the physical world.

'Good. Now Tsunayoshi-kun…'

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><p>Tsuna woke up, groggily blinking his eyes. His head was pounding. 'What lightheaded. It's more of a pounding. I can't believe I-Wait… what am I talking about?' He questioned himself, bringing his hand up to his head in hopes of stopping the pain when he noticed the familiar green gun.<p>

"Eh? Reborn?" Tsuna almost shouted, his mind snapping out from the pain which was conquering his mind moments ago.

"About time," Reborn stated, annoyance fully seen on his face. Leon turned back and crawled to his owner's head, staring at the scene of his master and his student. Reborn was currently standing on Tsuna and said "Lucky, you woke up in time, Dame-Tsuna." 'Did his Hyper Intuition warn him?' Reborn thought.

Tsuna, still not over the idea of his tutor nearly shooting him, gaped at Reborn appalled. He got over it quickly remembering the times, when it was a common occurrence happening to him as a teenager, Tsuna tried to glare at his tutor ultimately failing as the existence of his headache came back, causing him to groan and closed his eyes. Reborn glanced at his student with interest, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a headache," Tsuna responded unaware of his tutor's sudden interest.

"Hmm," Reborn looked on thoughtfully.

"By the way Reborn, where's everyone?" Tsuna asked.

"They're here."

"Eh?" Tsuna felt his headache lessen, finding strength in his limbs to sit up and saw his famiglia sleeping off each other except for the non-existent of his Storm and Cloud guardian.

"You've been out for 3 days, Tsuna. By the second day, they pretty much insisted in staying here with you. Gokudera's outside handling a call from Italy and I don't need to tell you what Hibari's up to, do I?"

Tsuna stopped listening to his tutor once he saw their sleeping faces. Yamamoto was sleep sitting on the ground with Lambo dozing off his shoulders. Chrome was beside Lambo, a blanket covering her. Ryohei was apparently standing. How he could sleep in such a position, Tsuna didn't care. Fuuta, I-pin and Bianchi were also present. Fuuta in the middle of the two girls and didn't mind the weight of their heads. Tsuna smiled at the sight blissfully. It was a moment of peace. At that minute, he wanted time to freeze as Tsuna didn't have to worry about enemy famiglias, assassinations or kidnappings. Tsuna was so focused at the sight; he almost missed what Reborn said.

"How are you?" The voice was barely audible even though the room was silent. Tsuna heard the question and responded with one of his own, "Reborn, are you sick?" This then lead to earning a slap from the baby.

"That hurts, Reborn! Sorry, it was a reflex. Yes, 'I'm fine' is the answer to your question." Reborn nodded and jumped to his chair. Tsuna, at times when he was not in his mind, would spout things he would say 10 years ago such as the speculation of Reborn caring for him and vice-versa.

"Good, because as soon as you've recovered, it's back to training." Reborn replied with a hint of excitement in his voice. "I expect your reflexes have gone down due to your paralysis state."

Tsuna visibly paled at the mention of training. No matter what he does, he's still going to be tutored by Reborn. Tsuna was about to object when the door slammed open. Gokudera Hayato, storm guardian and right hand man of the Tenth Vongola boss looked remarkably pissed off. It was a miracle the noise caused by the Storm didn't wake the others up. Gokudera, on seeing his boss awake, rushed to his side, the irritation gone from his face.

"Juudaime! You're awake. How are you feeling?" he asked excitedly. Gokudera more likely yelled the question to Tsuna as it would be the only explanation of waking everybody else in the room. They woke up rather slowly, a few yawns here and there, finally setting their eyes on Tsuna; widening, then leaping, each of them asking him the basic standard questions for a hospitalized person. Tsuna managed to calm them all down, responding to their questions even if he had to repeat it 2-3 times. After confirming with his older brother/Tsuna, Fuuta, Bianchi and I-pin bid him goodbye. Tsuna then asked where Hibari and Mukuro were.

"That Hibari is at his place. He refused to be here even though Juudaime is unwell. Mukuro hasn't been seen since he talked to Chrome." Gokudera clearly annoyed at the behaviour of the Cloud guardian.

'Well, that's Hibari for you. I'm kind of thankful he's not here or else he'll bite me to death for causing him all this mess. I wonder where that illusionist is.' Tsuna smiled wanly at the thought. In the meantime, his two best friends managed to get into a dispute quickly.

"Shut up, Yakyuu baka. This doesn't concern you."

"Maa, maa, Hayato. It's Tsuna's decision in the end, right?"

"Who said you could call me that?!" Gokudera yelled, blushing.

"I'm not allowed? I called your first name sometimes since Tsuna started to call you that."

"That's extremely right, Tako-head! You didn't say anything at that time!" Ryohei joined in.

"Gokudera-shi, you should leave him be. You're not going to win this argument, anyway." Lambo piped up.

Gokudera was ready to argue back when Tsuna called out, "What's this about my decision?"

"Oh, Tsuna. We were talking about Shoichi and Spanner. I mean your past-self did accept them, right? Does that mean you do too?"

"Yes. Shoichi-kun helped me a lot and Spanner helped my past-self perfect his technique. I was going to ask Spanner to make contacts for me. It looks I will be able to perfect my technique too. Ne, Hayato, who were you talking to before you came in?"

Gokudera forgot the matter with his name and began to fidget, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. Tsuna gazed intently, eyes focusing on his right hand man. The Storm guardian fiddles even more. He couldn't win against his boss and mumbled, "I'm truly sorry, Juudaime. You're just woken up but those bas***** just had to cause more….and they were doing….those idiots….expect us-"

"Hayato."

"My apologies. What I'm trying to say is since you're back, there has, um, been an increase… in paperwork due to the mess we made. I mean our past-selves and the Varia. There's also the damage done to Vongola Headquarters. Further-Ah! But we have good news too," Gokudera added hastily on seeing an illusionary dark cloud hovering over Tsuna, "Nono has taken charge in Italy. He says that it's the least he could do after what you've done. Your parents have been located. They're still in Italy enjoying their trip. Iemitsu sends his regards and to tell you he's proud of what you've done."

'So, Grandpa's alright. Mom and Dad are fine too. Good. I don't have to search for them.' Tsuna sigh in relief. 'But the paperwork…' He wanted to crawl back into his coffin again just to avoid that.

'It seems he has not realised me yet, though the akanbou has. Kufufufu, shall I give him a fright?'

"Well,well, Sawada Tsunayoshi, it seems your Hyper Intuition is quite lacking or is my presence that weak?" Mukuro said gleefully as he materialised in the room.

"Mukuro-sama!" Chrome said astonishment all over her face..

"Oh, Mukuro! You decided to join us?" Yamamoto asked.

"Bas****! What the hell are you doing here?!" Gokudera exclaimed.

'Mukuro was in the room all along?' Tsuna thought. 'How come I didn't sense him?'

"Yes, it's quite strange isn't it?" Reborn spoke up after being silent through the exchange of the family. "I thought it was fine after he woke up but on seeing he didn't sense you as he normally would. I guess this is a side effect." Reborn concluded. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'm going to fix it."

Tsuna would've continued being in a puzzled state if not for the next question, Mukuro brought up.

"By the way, Sawada Tsunayoshi, what did you mean when you said 'yes'?"

Tsuna, bewildered at the unexpected question, stared at him with a blank expression not following what was asked. Reborn supported this question with evidence both individuals had heard from his sleep.

'I did?' Tsuna thought. He wasn't necessarily a forgetful person. Reborn was his tutor. He made Tsuna remember every detail worthy or unworthy of his attention. Seeing the brunet confused made those close to him knew something was wrong. Yamamoto and Gokudera exchanged a silent conversation known to everyone except for Tsuna.

"Tsuna," Yamamoto firmly questioned his friend, "You're not hiding anything from us are you?"

Right then, Tsuna wanted to deny there was nothing he was hiding, in fact there was no more to hide but something stopped him and that moment of hesitation confirmed the guardians' suspicions.

"Sawada, what are you hiding?" Ryohei asked. Tsuna realised his mistake, quickly correcting, "Nothing. I was just thinking what Reborn said. I'm not hiding anything form you guys." The last sentence came rolling off his tongue with the taste of sourness. It was a lie and he knew it. However, his friends visibly relaxed after confirming their boss wasn't going to do anything risky.

"Is this true, Juudaime?" Gokudera questioned. Tsuna understood his Right hand man intentions of asking again. It was to make sure Tsuna was relying and them to trust him again. Although a stab of guilt pierce through Tsuna's chest, he replied with a "Yes."

The tension in the room dissipated with Yamamoto starting off a conversation about him meeting the past Gokudera commenting on how hot-headed he was resulting in a fumed Storm guardian. TYL Gokudera then launch a recount of the past Yamamoto in which he was - is still a Yakyuu baka. Adding oil to flame, Yamamoto laughed like the olden days, Ryohei began with a shout of 'EXTREME!' and Lambo did what he did best; insulting Gokudera. It earned him a hit on the head following a pitiful image of the Lightning guardian crying. Mukuro was nowhere in sight while Chrome stared at the chaotic scene with happiness. It was clear those days were missed.

Reborn was sleeping in his hammock, where he got it, Tsuna didn't need to know. Sometimes things were better left unknown. The number 1 rule for Tsuna regarding anything related to Reborn. The quarrel soon became a mass of destruction and the pleas from the doctor were forgotten. A piece of debris fell near Tsuna causing Gokudera to scold the hot-headed boxer. Insults were thrown at each other; one calling 'Tako-head' and the other 'Shibaku-atama'.

One thing lead to another, the last being Hibari. Unfortunately, he was passing by chance, hearing the ruckus biting all of them to death except for Tsuna. Hibari wouldn't hurt the injured brunet and it did help when Reborn had promised him of a fight against Tsuna as a form for forgiveness after putting him through all the annoyance with their past selves.

Soon, afternoon passed the baton to night to take over. Everyone went back to their respective rooms after a forceful reprimand from Tsuna on not sleeping here again. All went except the Rain.

"Takeshi, don't tell me you're going to stay here?" Tsuna's eyes dangerously went to a peak of orange.

Yamamoto stood still for a while before going over to him and punched him on the shoulder. He was sane enough not to cause any damage to his friend and held back his strength but the blow Tsuna felt was more powerful than any other ones he receive. The blow was the combination of feelings from his friends. It was surprising as Gokudera had known what Yamamoto was going to do and had given him permission.

"You're an idiot, Tsuna." Yamamoto said calmly, a hint of anger in his voice.

"What?" Tsuna was stupefied. He had expected the treatment from Gokudera but not much from Yamamoto.

"How could you pretend to die and leave the work to us? To keep Vongola working; to keep our family together, to keep on living even if you weren't there? His voice shook, "After my dad died, you and the others were my only family left. Did you know how painful it was for us to know you died and none of us were there? You're such a bad person, Tsuna." Yamamoto simply said and lastly added, "But you were the precious friend to all of us all the more."

After the outburst of one of his closest friend, Tsuna couldn't say anything back but to be understanding of their position. He could comprehend and sympathise with them as he himself saw his past-self memories of how anguished his family looked over his 'death'.

Drops of water fell onto his hand as he said "Sorry" again and again. The exchange between the Sky and his Rain was not a sight anyone could see. It was the release of pent up frustration and anger from not only one but all six guardians. It was the Rain's job to wash away conflict within the family. And he did just that. Hours later, Tsuna had promised them he'll never do an elaborate plan again to Yamamoto. Yamamoto left but a condition was set. Tsuna had to be involved with his Guardians' past time every day. The brunet did not mind until he found out the real intention of his Rain's words.

* * *

><p>Somewhere ~(<strong>AN: Even I'm not sure**)

"Are the preparations, ready?" Shichirou asked.

"Yes but we have a problem, sir."

"Well, what is it?"

"The schematics, you've shown us. Although, it's possible to calibrate it to the right numbers, it's going to take a few weeks to install the new part. Plus, by the power supplied to it, we can only do it once."

"For the whole trip? That's no problem. We can get more power from **them**. The flames were only ¼ of the flames Ghost absorbed. I'm surprised we didn't need more. I only need to know if this is successful. When is that old man coming with the goods?"

"Within the next three weeks, boss."

"Good, Good."

"Boss, if I may? How is this going to take revenge for Byakuran-sama."

"I guess your tiny brain can't comprehend the more intellect ones. I guess I'll explain then. Who's responsible for the death of your old boss? The past Decimo but it is the current Decimo, the 24 years old that was responsible for his demise as he brought his past self here. Don't you want to make him suffer? He won't know the cause. More so, once I make the link, it's bye bye Tsunayoshi."

* * *

><p>? (<strong>AN: I seriously don't know the location**)

A lonely old man was wondering along the road leading to his destination. Noise could be heard coming from the old man yet there was no sign of animals.

"Can you two behave? I realise you're impatient to see your masters but that doesn't mean you can irritate me."

The noise quiet down.

"Thank you. Now, how does an old blind man find the way home? After entrusting those things with him, he gives them back to me and you along with it. My old age isn't for babysitting jobs. And now, I'm a delivery boy. That Tsunayoshi better thank me or else. Now, was it left or right again?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So this is chapter 2. Thank you to those who viewed this. Technically, I wasn't expecting a lot. Thanks so much to tsuna16 for favouriting this and to 18. NekoMimi.27, I see you see (I swear this is a person) and Taki-nee-chan (Can I call you Taki-nee?) for following this story. I realised my first chapter wasn't that much of a big start but oh well, I'm not going to regret it. Also if there are any issues with the nickname as I did them in Japanese instead of English tell me your opinions if anybody wants to. (~.~) I did them in Japanese since they have more of an impact. **

**Please bear with my writing style. It's lousy, I know! I'm still finding one that suits me and it will change a bit from time to time. If that never happens, then... (0.0)**

**Gradually, I should warn you that since there are many little factors that need to be covered in the TYL world, the first few chapters help build the story up. I want to get over with them. I can tell you that in the next chapter, things are going to happen a bit faster. So... till next week. Hehe. ^^**


	3. Chapter 3

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Disclaimer: I do not own KHR (but I wished some of the amazing authors did)**

**Hope you enjoy it! Reasons for delay of uploading is explained at the bottom. Bikirikiri! (Just a random word) **

* * *

><p>Namimori Forest<p>

In the middle of the battered land, stood a lonesome figure surveying the area grimacing slightly at the damage it held. Trees destroyed, cracked craters, ever so present staying as a reminder of a battle and the ever slight non-existent smell of burning. Tsuna walked over to the biggest crater and kneeled down to a scarred mark on the earth; the proof of a sky barrier created by the Sky holders of the Tri-ni-Sette. He brushed his fingers lightly against the mark, noting the power it contained. The barrier was very powerful. Tsuna wondered if he could produce such a barrier, not as strong as the ones created by the three skies but one nonetheless where it could contain at least his strongest guardian. He drifted to his thoughts settling a resolution to test out his theory; in secret, of course.

Back to the matter at hand, Tsuna stood up and walked towards a certain place. The place where if he was correct with the memory he gained from his past self was where Byakuran had ultimately been defeated and died. Before coming here, Tsuna had asked Shoichi to confirm Byakuran was really gone. The mechanic said yes. Shoichi understood Tsuna's disbelief of the plan succeeding. He had the same notion as Tsuna. When the young brunet had asked him to confirm his suspicions during the time he was stuck in the medical bay, Shoichi believed the question was only asked due to his Hyper Intuition not reassuring him as always. He had heard the matter from the loud Sun guardian.

But no matter the confidence in the answer Shoichi had given him, Tsuna felt it was better to sneak out the day before he was discharge and confirm it himself. So, here he was in the middle of the night with no body guards, no rings nor his gloves. He was utterly vulnerable. The perfect chance for anyone to attack the brunet yet no one did. Either because it was the world thanking him for preventing the apocalypse or he used his years of good luck; or because someone had cleverly assisted unnoticeably in ensuing the young boss was concealed from prying eyes.

"This is where my younger self used X-Burner on Byakuran." Tsuna muttered to himself. "What Shoichi-kun said was right after all. Byakuran is really gone."

"Now, didn't I say so?" A voice echoed back.

Tsuna turned around and felt a sky flame on his head bringing up sealed memories, relaxing momentarily after sorting out his memories. "Oh, it's you. Well, it's not my fault that you had to seal my memories of the stuff we talked about. Furthermore, not having my Hyper Intuition makes me doubt everything. And what's this thing I feel hovering around me?"

"It will get better Tsunayoshi-kun. Trust me. You and I have discussed about this in the psychological world. The thing you are feeling right now are my mist flames. They are to mask your presence while you are alone and weak… currently."

Tsuna made an understanding look brushing off the last comment. "But do you need to be so vague about it? When you first decided to tell me about Yuni's vision, you just said one thing. '_Byakuran is not the end_.' "

"All will be revealed in time. There are things I will not- cannot tell you. I told you that one sentence because your tutor was going to shoot you in the head and if I had not ended our conversation there, you might be stuck in a hospital. I do believe I have mentioned this is our past talk also."

Tsuna sighed, "Fine. I did thank you in the end. What brings you here?"

"I'm briefly taking a walk in the park and to tell you to hurry back. You do not want an angry hitman to find you missing, now do you?"

Tsuna gulped in fear. His tutor was already planning out his training menu. He did not want any extra Spartan exercises from Reborn. "Well, I guess I should be thanking you. Are you going to seal them again?"

"That is without question, Tsunayoshi-kun. I will leave some clarification of Byakuran's demise to settle your disturbed mind." The man, once again held a sky flame on Tsuna's head, sealing the recent conversation and the memories. He left quickly as soon as the job was done.

Tsuna blinked his eyes a couple of times before feeling a headache coming on. He must have zoned out. He concluded satisfied with the discovery of confirming Byakuran was physically gone. 'I should be heading back, right now.' Tsuna left the ruined land and trudged back towards the base massaging his temples, hoping the others wouldn't find out about his little trip. Unfortunately, the brunet's hopes were simply not enough. The universe itself could only pity what was going to come.

* * *

><p>1 week later<p>

Tsuna ducked the incoming tonfa aiming for his head, proceeding quickly to counter attack with a kick to Hibari's stomach when Reborn halt the sparring between the two combatants.

"You better have a good reason for this, akanbou," Hibari growled. The sparring as Tsuna insisted on calling it rather than a fight to the death, was reaching the peak of concentration from the two fighters. Hibari almost enjoyed the fight if not for the interruption. Almost, that is.

"I do. Shoichi and Spanner just told me there's a call coming from Italy. It's not the Varia, Tsuna." Reborn replied to the obvious question etched on his student's face. "This one is from the Vongola Mansion. Hibari, you better come too. I promise to fight you later to compensate for this spar."

Tsuna nodded in response, going out of his Hyper Dying Will Mode and flexed his stiff shoulders. Even after sparring with Hibari, his muscles were still stiff. Tsuna picked his jacket off the floor, flapping the dust off and proceeded to exit the room when Reborn called out "Your balance was off and you didn't even notice immediately, Dame-Tsuna. We're gonna have a new training exercise added to your schedule."

Tsuna groaned. It wasn't enough that his menu consisted of 100 laps around Namimori, 1000 push ups and sit ups, a 5 hour spar with Hibari, a 2 mile hike up a mountain and recently he was a guinea pig to Gianini's new training room testing its capabilities to which Reborn assisted. Now a more hazardous exercise was to be added. Tsuna wondered if it was too late to go and hide back in his coffin.

"Dame-Tsuna, stop wondering if you can hide because I'll look inside and shoot you." Reborn's response came across the room.

Tsuna quickly exited the room and headed towards the conference room. Reborn had been finding ways in order to restore Tsuna's Hyper Intuition but so far no luck. His Hyper Intuition was coming back slowly and the training didn't have that much of an effect though it did strengthen Tsuna's body again. His muscles were beginning to have the clear form it once did before he was paralysed and his reflexes were more or less back to normal.

If the same could be said about his Hyper Intuition, Tsuna would be back as new or his original self as he would say. If Tsuna needed to describe the state of his Hyper Intuition, it would be a jigsaw puzzle. The one with a thousand pieces needed to make the final picture. Tsuna could most probably estimate if his Maths had improved, of more than half of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle was missing.

As he thought of this, his arms in automatic swiftly pulled his jacket, slipping into the sleeves and deftly buttoned it up. It was a common etiquette for any boss to look presentable for any meeting whether it was in a run-down farmhouse or an exclusive ride in a submarine. Mafia bosses and their secrecy; Tsuna once ponder why the direr the meeting was the more extravagant precautions his acquaintance seems to take.

Sadly enough, even Reborn couldn't do anything about Tsuna's hair. It was the thing Tsuna was most proud of; to see the number one hitman lose to the gravity defying brown hair. However, in order to make up for this, Reborn drilled his student to dress stylishly everywhere meaning now it was a common habit to the brunet leading to many painful incidents experienced by the young boss.

Tsuna now fully prop up for a meeting entered the room and was greeted by silence. Gokudera and the others were all present with Hibari at the side away from them as much as possible except for Mukuro which Tsuna suspected was either invisible or had other matters to attend to.

'Why aren't Hayato and Onii-san fighting? Is there something going on?' Tsuna worriedly took the middle seat, his face emotionless courtesy from Reborn's intensive training a long time ago. Tsuna saw the two mechanics at the corner of the room. 'They were waiting for me.'

Once he sat, Shoichi connected the link to the Vongola Mansion and the meeting between the Ninth and Tenth generation began. The gears of a faraway clock intercept each other and began to move. This was the start of everything.

Vongola Nono aka Jii-chan only by Sawada Tsunayoshi warmly greeted them, "Good morning, no, I should say good afternoon, everyone. The time difference, I expect."

"Good morning, Jii-chan," Tsuna responded warmly. The old man had guided him on the basics and the know-how things of a mafia boss when he took the title of Decimo. Reborn was currently away at that moment to run another mission for Nono.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, how are you? You've just recovered right? Don't push yourself too hard; your guardians, too." The comment made some smile and murmured thanks to the man.

"I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me." 'Except my Hyper Intuition's not working so much,' Tsuna added. "Why are you calling here, Jii-chan? This isn't just a normal greeting is it?" He asked suspiciously.

Nono, impassive as ever, didn't change his tone or his posture. He was in complete control of his body reacting to such questions. Answers he didn't want to give to; answers which always brings problems to his grandson, genetically or not.

"How did you know? From what I've been told, your Hyper Intuition is not functional."

Tsuna tried not to look annoyed at his tutor who mysteriously was present at the edge, sipping coffee rather comfortably as if he owned the room.

'Did you blab to everyone about this Reborn?' Tsuna yelled mentally. "Yes, my Hyper Intuition is not as efficient but I'm getting parts of it back and sometimes when I train with Hibari," Tsuna replied to Nono. His guardians nodded their heads in agreement. "How I knew? Because particularly this line number is only provided for the Varia. I saw the number on the screen when Shoichi was connecting the call. Reborn mentioned the Varia wasn't calling so the only thing left was you. Even though there was a number reserved for the Vongola Mansion, I suspected you have lost it."

"Perceptive as ever, Tsunayoshi-kun," Nono paused for a minute and spilled the things he had hidden, "As you said, this isn't just a greeting. We encountered some problems." Nono sighed in exhaustion. With his age, these problems were not good for his heart. "The Millefiore family is resisting. According to those still allied with us, they have informed me of our members still being targeted. I've confirmed these to be true as 3 have been found injured. It is also possible those associated with us the allied families would be targeted."

Tsuna stood up in shocked. 'The Millefiore family? How is that possible? Byakuran was gone.' Tsuna thought. He had clarified this when he sneaked out of the base without his guardians or Reborn's consent. He was gone.

"Tsuna! Tsuna!"

"Juudaime!"

"Sawada!"

Tsuna broke off from his thoughts as he felts hands shaking him accompanied by voices shouting his name. Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei and the others looked at him worriedly. Their friend had entered a gaze portraying a lifeless image of the brunet. Relying on instinct of to protect their friend, those nearest to Tsuna wanted to snap him out of his daze state.

"Everyone… Sorry about that. Um, you can let go off me now. Both of you."

Yamamoto sheepishly removed his hold while Gokudera remained still; stubbornness oozing from his aura. Tsuna briefly went into HDWM and said, "Hayato, please remove you hand."

Gokudera could not disobey the voice that came from his boss, full of confidence and certainty and one which demanded respect. So, he removed his hand and sat back down as did Yamamoto. No one could go against Tsuna in HDWM except for Reborn, his parents and Nono. Sitting back on his chair, Tsuna rubbed his head and asked, "Are there more casualties from these attacks?"

"We have no confirmation yet," Nono said, "But it is clear they have no intention of letting us take back control."

Tsuna sighed. As soon as one problem was resolved another one smacks him in the face. He directed a question to Shoichi, "Do you see this as an act of defiance?"

"Yes, even though Byakuran is gone, they are shown to be determined to finish the job given to them. However, they are moving randomly so I suspect there's no one controlling the Millefiore family."

"So, it's like a pack of herbivores doing stupid and meaningless things," Hibari decided. "Then, I'm not needed." He walked out, a fuming Gokudera prepared to shout at the Cloud guardian for his insolence when Ryohei stopped him. There was no point in having a conflict now was the message he conveyed.

"Che." Gokudera shook Ryohei off him and focused on the situation before him.

"Nono," Reborn spoke up, "I believe this situation is too much for you to handle."

"Reborn…" Nono trailed off.

"I suggest Tsuna and his guardians to move back to Italy to help with the situation. You're getting old, my friend. As from the looks of it here, Tsuna has already decided to go help you without his guardians, am I right, Dame-Tsuna?"

Disbelief showered the room. No one expected Tsuna to leave them behind.

"Juudaime, is this true?"

"He planned on sneaking out of the base and going to Italy alone. Just like the time he sneaked out of here to go to Namimori forest. Don't be that surprised Tsuna, you know my spies." Reborn specifically said.

"What?! Is what Pao-Pao sensei said extremely true, Sawada?!"

Tsuna ignored the short outburst of his guardian and said to Nono, "Don't worry, as Reborn said it seems like this is too much for you. We are all going to Italy. Jii-chan, get some rest and tell Basil I'll want him to be at the Vongola Mansion in two days giving a full report of the current actions of the Millefiore."

Nono nodded and ended the link leaving the young brunet to face his guardians' wrath.

"Tsuna…"

"Juudaime…"

"Sawada…"

"Boss…"

"Tsuna-nii…"

"WAIT! Before you jump to conclusions, I wasn't planning on leaving you guys. I swear! I promised didn't I?"

The fire in his friends' eyes dimmed before Chrome spoke up, "Then, what about the trip to Namimori forest?"

Eyes swivelled back to the brunet who was trying to avoid eye contact.

"Juudaime…" Gokudera sighed heavily and motioned the other to sit leaving a puzzled Tsuna wondering what they were going to do to him. Everyone did although some were reluctant.

"Yamamoto, now do you understand?" Gokudera started. "Your condition wasn't enough. It was a great idea to monitor him at the same time doing what you all like for the past week but this method isn't enough. Things like the excursion happen without our knowledge."

"Yeah, sorry Gokudera." Yamamoto answered dejectedly.

"What do you mean monitor?" Tsuna interjected.

Gokudera and the others ignored him and continued, "Since our boss behaves like this, I suggest what we propose before. We can adjust our schedule to so there's at least one of us. Agreed?"

"Agreed." They said in unison.

"Wait a minute, you mean all those times I enjoyed being with you guys as per Takeshi's condition, it was to stalk me?" Tsuna cried out. Tsuna remembered when Lambo had asked him to help with his training. Tsuna at that time thought it was just for Lambo wanting to get stronger and didn't think much of it even if he was lazy. But one action caught his attention when the child kept notice of his movements at different intervals even if they were taking a break.

"Not stalk, Vongola. Merely observe." Lambo replied.

"Even you Chrome?!" Tsuna exclaimed when he remembered a few days back when Chrome had asked him to accompany her.

"Yes," Chrome defiantly said.

"Oya, oya, Sawada Tsunayoshi, you wouldn't be planning on getting mad at my dear Chrome, would you?" Mukuro questioned the younger man. He had materialised into the room as soon as trouble started brewing.

Tsuna didn't know if he was pleased about them caring so much for him or get angry at being monitored by them meaning he would have no sense of privacy. He didn't think their punishment for him was really this ridiculous. Unenthusiastically, Tsuna sighed. If all his guardians were against him, he could do nothing about it. It wasn't to be mistaken that Tsuna was still containing his annoyance at them inside.

"Fine, since all of you have decided this on your own and I don't want to go against you guys, I won't do anything about it. Now, if we're done with all the secret punishments and trips, tell Bianchi and Gianini, they're to stay in Namimori. All of us here shall go. Shoichi, Spanner, you're coming too."

The two mechanics surprised by the decision began to excitedly chatter. Spanner stopped in the middle of his conversation and said, "Vongola, your contacts are ready. Sorry, it took a while but I needed to adjust the difference of power between your past self."

Tsuna nodded in thanks. "This meeting is closed. Tonight, we're flying to Italy. Tell Kyoya to come in 5 days maximum. He'll be a little annoyed but I think all of you can handle it, right?"

Tsuna then walked out leaving the others to ponder on who should tell the Cloud guardian with everyone passing the job to the next person. The job was ultimately ended up with Chrome as the others speculated he would listen to her than the others.

* * *

><p>"Are you in sight of him?" Shichirou asked.<p>

…

"Good. It was a wise choice to send you. Strike him fast and don't involve the civilians."

…

"You're asking if I care for them? No, not at all. But think of it this way, if we decide to kill them, a chain reaction might occur. Those with families or loved ones; it is probable they will be hell bent on getting revenge or better yet join a mafia family. I don't want trouble, right now. I want all of this to be perfectly smooth. Do you understand? Besides, we can always kill them later after he has been dealt with."

The receiver grumbled somewhat inconsistent language earning a sincere laugh from the boss.

* * *

><p>She put away her phone and eyed her target fiercely. Why her? Why not another person? She frequently kept complaining in her head. Her target was a man laughing happily with a woman by his side. From the atmosphere oozing from the couple, it was a clear fact they were the lovey-dovey type. Stealthily, she proceeds towards her target with a syringe hidden beneath her sleeve. Two steps away she was, the couple stopped. The man asked the woman to go towards a small boutique and pointed to their meeting place. Once the woman was gone, he turned around and ran into an alley.<p>

She cursed. It wasn't possible for him to sense her. He kept on going leading her to the side of the town abandoned to everyone except for the little creatures. Suddenly, he stopped.

"Is there a reason as to why you are following me?" He asked. She stayed quiet.

"Come now. I suspect you have a mouth as you did spout some colourful words as I was running. Really now, answer my question."

Blades crossed the air and zipped passed the man who swiftly dodged the attack. She ran straight to him, her face hidden in the darkness and proceed to strike him down when he punched her on the face. She gasped. How much strength does he have? She underestimated him. He was a retiree. He shouldn't have that much power.

"The hell?" She screeched, coughing.

"Oh? A woman? Ah, this makes things harder. I don't naturally go against woman. I have to hold back now." He said relaxed. "If you're this skilled, it means you have loyalty to a famiglia already. Now, let's look at your face."

He reached down and pulled her up only to find his beloved's face.

"Wha-what is this?!" Sensing an opportunity, she plunge the syringe on to his arm letting the concoction flow through his veins. Quickly ceasing the moment, she escaped jumping from the wall and entered a window. Snapping out of his shock, the man looked at the syringe still stuck to his arm and pulls it out. 'A syringe? I sense nothing wrong with me. Is this a ploy? I better send this to them. A full diagnostic report should be able to figure out if this has any harmful chemicals.' He looked upwards to the sky with sudden grey clouds threatening to spoil the sunny mood. 'Something's happening. You better be careful, Tsuna.'

* * *

><p>"Was it successful?"<p>

...

"Ah yes, my little present did come in handy didn't it?"

...

"You belong to the Millefiore. I have one more job for you to do before you can officially retire."

...

"No, no, nothing of that sort. This is relatively easier. You get to use your favourite toy."

...

"So, now you're getting excited. Come back fast. Your new target should be at the airport arriving in a few hours."

Shichirou ended the call. Every day was endearing for him. No wonder Byakuran left all the essentials to other people. It was like Bykuran to boss others since he didn't want to do the basic work. But Shichirou figured it was a price to pay for being the new boss of the Millefiore. He smiled to himself. Step 2 was complete, now he just needed to do Step 1 while his trusted assassin would meet with Sawada Tsunayoshi to complete Step 3.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Here is chapter 3! I'm sorry for this chapter being a day and a few hours late. Plus my homework piled up! I needed a small break from FF to manage all of this. Unexpectedly, the viewership of this story almost reach 200 even though I'm just a beginner! That's quite strange for me. Ahem, so I want to thank Yarumates, crimson-hazel-orbs-16 for favouriting and following this story and mariafrancisaj for following too.**

**You guys are the best and also the others who favourite and followed this before. As I said before, Chapter 3 would be a bit faster and it is! for me anyways. Tsuna's going to Italy! I promise there will be a confrontation with Hibari and Mukuro. In a way, both of them avoided each other to let Tsuna recover. Technically, it's a momentary truce. Tell me if I did get anything wrong. I'm guessing every person here like to read and read..I'm the same though. LOL. The 1st Generation will come but not for now. I have plans for them. **

**There's a bit of changes to the Tenth Gen personality as I guess it wouldn't entirely be the tenth generation without all their unique personalities.**

**There is also quite some changes on how the story is perceived. It's like all the stuff experienced by the past Tenth generation is already experienced by the TYL tenth generation. In a way, I would be using some concept of the past and future but I would ignore some just to make this story work. So I guess, this is kinda an AU.**

**My writing style... I got no words for it. If you guys notice, I update weekly. A reason for this is because I write my ideas for the new chapter in a book, then I write it in Word doc. **

**ALERT: there's a 50% chance I might again upload the next chapter late since my mocks are coming up. I need to revise and complete a pile of homework again. School is so annoying! **


	4. Chapter 4

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. **

* * *

><p>The Tenth generation were sitting quietly in the plane; a private jet owned by the Vongola Family. After much hassle over luggage and quarrels over nonsense items and the unique killing intent released from a certain person, they quickly left the base in a record of 2 hours. Within the 2 hours, Reborn managed to finish Tsuna's training menu for the day leaving the brunet utterly exhausted.<p>

Afterwards, Tsuna tiredly packed his essentials and went with the flow, letting his friends guide him. Once they boarded, he slump into a chair and slept. An hour had passed and there was no sound coming from his guardians. Why? Because they had fallen prey to the same disease as Tsuna called sleep. Reborn smirked at the sight before settling into sleep himself.

* * *

><p>She positioned herself on the roof of the control tower aiming for the precise spot as told by her boss; the spot where Vongola Decimo would be. It seemed ludicrous for the assassin to believe her target would actually be at that point where her boss said and would have deemed him crazy if not for the demonstration he had given before coming to the airport. She sighed glancing at her weapon one more time a M82 Barret 50 Cal sniper rifle custom made for her as a present from her mentor. It was no ordinary rifle. Her master said it was the 3rd best weapon right after the Rain Arcobaleno's and his mentor. It's a mystery how her master had gotten it for her. She snapped out of her thoughts and kept her mind in track of her final duty to the Millefiore family.<p>

She was calm. She was confident. What she wasn't, was to be able to keep control of her inner mood. Inside her mind, a squeal of excitement threatened to destroy her image. The only solution was for her to temporarily seal it inside an imaginary box, sealing it tightly with a lid and smashing it down with a 10 tonne weight. There was no place for error. One small mistake would mean game over for her. After all, there was no way in hell would she end up like **them**. According to what he told her, the plane should be in sight in 5 minutes. She loaded a tranquilizer dart into her rifle and waited. True enough, the jet came into view and preceded the main procedures for landing. It landed perfectly as it always did and moved along the track as per instructed by the control tower.

She listened in to their communications noting down the exact moment it would be in her range. A wiring device tapping into their communications was another one of her hobbies to do. It was strange yet oddly serene for her. A way to keep her sanity was to eavesdrop on the people; such fun. As the aircraft came into a stop, she could see through her scope, the Vongola guardians waking up and creating a ruckus immediately. A specialty of theirs, her boss said. She couldn't agree more. It was a strange sight to have so much positive energy when you're involved in the mafia world; an incredible feat more so if they had ties with the Vongola. Out of the corner of her eye, the road crew were bringing the staircase and progressed quickly into bringing out the luggage. They opened the door and one by one they came out.

She focused on the exiting passengers and counted. 1… 2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9 and Vongola Decimo coming out last. The moment he appeared, she fired and didn't wait to confirm if the target was shot or not. She focused on clearing away her equipment in less than 30 seconds as instructed by her boss because in 30 seconds, 7 very angry and powerful individuals close to Vongola Decimo would strike her down without hesitation.

* * *

><p>Noise was the very first thing he heard; loud and noisy sounds. Even though his eyes were close, his mind was already awake.<p>

"Tsuna, Tsuna. Wake up, Tsuna."

The tenth boss groaned in his mind and tried to swat the person away only to receive a quick blow to his head.

"Ite…" Tsuna finally opened his eyes and saw his tutor in an irritated manner.

"We've arrived, Dame-Tsuna. Go calm down your guardians." With that note, Tsuna yawned loudly and stood up gaining the attention of everyone in the zone.

"Juudaime, did you have a good rest?" Gokudera asked immediately forgetting the previous matter.

Tsuna nodded wordlessly still feeling the after effects of too little sleep. His body were beginning to ache again and it bothered the young boss. Before Gokudera was able to remember and continue the quarrel, Chrome spoke up, "Everyone, the doors are open. We should go."

The others momentarily focused on the words of the female Mist Guardian, forgetting their usual fight and agreed to down. Tsuna whispered a word of thanks to Chrome causing a spread of red over her cheeks. She smiled warmly in return before following Mukuro who was waiting for her. Apparently, the male illusionist was present for the whole fight yet according to what Chrome could tell Tsuna in few minutes, Mukuro was invisible for the whole flight due to a certain setback. Tsuna most probably guessed he was worried about the Vindince coming back to imprison him or the most believable reason would be it was a favour to someone. Tsuna chuckled at the thought knowing who the 'someone' would be. He followed the others, the last one to leave the plane as he figured Shoichi would be the first to leave to avoid any battles the guardians would've made. As he came out into the seemingly, crisp fresh air, two powerful orders came slapping him.

"STOP!"

"TSUNA, MOVE!"

Tsuna surprised at the sudden outburst wanted to ask why when something sharp strikes his arm. The pain transmitted to his brain was enough for the brunet to look towards the designated spot and saw the makeshift of a bullet and a tranquilizer. Within it was a clear content which was rapidly seeping into his skin. Tsuna, dazed, felt the person closest to him, yanked him down and covered him to prevent any more hits making from making contact. Yamamoto and Gokudera, although worried about Tsuna was more focused into finding the person who attacked their friend. Yamamoto traced the trajectory of the projectile, alerting Gokudera and pinpointed the location to be at the top of the control tower. They ran furiously only for their efforts to be wasted as the assassin had calculated their state of mind and predicted they wouldn't even notice the exquisite yet simple trap that had now caught them.

"Those bas*****! Oi, Yamamoto, cut this, will you?" Gokudera shouted. Yamamoto complied, cutting through the rope efficiently and prepared to chase after the person when Reborn shouted at them.

"Gokudera, Yamamoto, there's no point in chasing. They've gone by now." The two guardians obeyed the infant and instantly rushed to their boss.

"Tsuna, are you okay?!"  
>"Are you alright, Juudaime?"<p>

"As I've said before to the others and to you now, I'm fine," Tsuna assured them. He flexed his arm to prove his point and the others sighed in relief and helped the young boss up.

"But it was definite that something was shot at you, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said, "If your Hyper Intuition was already as per normal, you've could have easily avoided that bullet."

"Reborn, I'm not superhuman. From what I saw, that tranquilizer/bullet had nothing but clear liquid inside. I'm positive it's not poison because usually they prefer if I'm dead at an instant." He looked towards his friends who wore grim faces.

"Um, guys you don't have to take this seriously, you know?" Tsuna worriedly told them.

Gokudera gripped his knuckles tightly, clenching his jaw at forgetting the most basic rule of being in the mafia. No matter where you are, don't let your guard down especially if you are one of the six guardians. That rule was told to all of them the moment Tsuna decided to be Vongola Decimo.

"Gokudera, don't be too hard on yourself." Gokudera focused his eyes on Reborn. "Do what you have to do now as a Right Hand Man of the tenth." The storm guardian nodded towards the baby, grateful for the comment and ordered the others.

"First priority is to get our boss out of here. Chrome and Lambo stick with Jyuudaime. Tell Mukuro this Chrome; try to find the person that was shooting at Juudaime. Yamamoto, Ryohei, you're coming with me. The scheme we settled back home is now in effect."

The next few hours were a blur for the brunet. After Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei had gone to who knows where; Tsuna was hustled into a limo privately owned by the Vongola. During the time of chaos, Tsuna could feel something inside his body felt a bit different. 'Is it because of the liquid?' he thought. Somehow, he could tell that it was neither attacking nor dissolving into his bloodstream. It was just lying there underneath his skin. Tsuna grew worried.

By the time he was aware of his surroundings; Tsuna was climbing out of the limo and entered the Vongola Mansion. He had to admit as a sense of nostalgia spread his mind, the Vongola Mansion was a second home to him. He took in the view of the recently built Mansion and needed to take time to thank the workers for their handiwork. It looked exactly as it was when he left for Japan; the intricate designs on the door, the refurnished rooms followed by the old or new paintings of all the Vongola bosses and their guardians. Tsuna let his eyes roam over the paintings, finally settling at the picture of Vongola Primo and his guardians which had seemingly survived the blast.

Lambo and Chrome gave their boss a little privacy stepping a few steps back. It was common knowledge to everyone in the Vongola household of Decimo's fondness over the first family. Maybe it was because Primo was his great-great, great grandfather or the resemblance between the first and tenth family or Decimo holding a great respect towards Primo. Either way, it was a common sight to see Decimo at the base of the painting every now and then.

While the two guardians were reminiscing about their past, Tsuna kept staring at the painting. He was not thinking of his ancestor, no, his mind was on an entirely different matter. His Hyper Intuition had since he entered the house, nudged the young boss towards the hung paintings specifically, Primo's. It was the smallest yet significant sign from his Hyper Intuition but it was enough for Tsuna to be wary.

'Something's going to happen,' Tsuna thought. The longer he stared at the painting, the more his Hyper Intuition was pricking him. All of a sudden, his Hyper Intuition came in full force. Tsuna winced at the pain. It was unbearable. He was dimly aware of Chrome and Lambo still behind him and took a deep breath silently, forcing the pain down albeit temporarily.

"Chrome, Lambo, I'll be going to my room to rest. Where did Reborn go?" Tsuna asked.

"I don't know. He was with us when we arrived here but I think he's gone somewhere." Lambo confusedly replied.

'That's good. Now, I won't have to worry about him finding this out.' Tsuna mentally sigh in relief.

Chrome and Lambo then escorted their boss to his room. Apparently, Tsuna had forgotten about their policy. His head was pounding and the two trailing behind him wasn't much of a help. As soon as his room was in sight, Tsuna quickly dismissed his friends. Chrome worryingly looked at her boss while Lambo was unsure what to do. However, a quick change into his HDWM made up their minds. Tsuna entered his room, locked the door resounding with a soft 'click' and promptly collapsed.

* * *

><p>"Have you accomplished it?<p>

…

"Have they suspected us?"

…

"You say they didn't but judging from how his Storm was handling the matter, I suspect an inkling of feeling has alerted them to the Millefiore. At least they don't suspect I'm in charge of this group now."

…

"As promised, you've earned your freedom but if they manage to track you, you know what you have to do."

Shichirou ended the call and sigh between happiness and a hint of sadness. He was glad his plan was working as efficiently as it would but at the cost of losing one of Millefiore's top killers. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Sir, here's the formula you wanted."

"Good." Shichirou grabbed the syringe and placed it in his pocket. "It was enough for only 3, I presume."

"Yes, sir. But there's still some left."

"As I expected. Store the rest in a small bottle. I'll need it for another task. The others?"

"As you have planned, they are attacking randomly and the Vongola only suspect it's an act of revenge."

"Excellent and the machine?"

"The modifications are coming of well and will be ready in the next few days."

Shichirou grinned at the news. He couldn't wait to use it. Carefully, slowly, he needed to trap the Vongola to a corner and then engulf them into despair.

* * *

><p>Tsuna woke up feeling sweaty and thirsty. His hands were clammy and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know how his face looked like. He breathed in and out slowly as if taking his time. Suddenly, he sat up and glanced at the clock. It was 9 in the morning. Tsuna sighed and then realised he had slept, more correctly, fainted on the floor. The brunet could only think in respite that none of his friends better yet Reborn didn't barge into his room like they usually would.<p>

'Wait, Reborn isn't here…' Tsuna distressing something horrible happened took a quick shower managing to even look good which wasn't a problem and threw on his usual clothes consisting of a black suit, in pair with a black tie and his white shirt. He didn't even bother with his hair since Tsuna knew more or less it would be pointless. Hurriedly, he dashed out of his room only to be met with his Sun guardian who wore a tape over his mouth.

"Wa-Onii-san!" Tsuna exclaimed.

Ryohei greeted the newly awakened brunet or at least he tried to but all Tsuna could comprehend form his friend was mumbling. Tsuna went to take the tape off but hesitated. He didn't want to see his friend suffer but he didn't want the silence to go. Compassion for his friend won over selfishness and Tsuna immediately removed the tape.

"Thank you to the extreme, Sawada!"

Tsuna grimaced at the loud shout of his guardian before asking, "Why did you have a tape over your mouth, Onii-san? Why couldn't you remove it yourself? And what are you doing here?"

Ryohei, over the years managed to tone done his voice due to certain someone and opted to use a safe decibel voice. However, short bursts of his 'extremes' would come every now and then. "That tako-head put it over me and coated it with his cloud flames when I was sent to wake you up for breakfast. All of us figured to let you sleep in but Pao-Pao sensei, I mean Reborn, told us we shouldn't pamper you too much."

"I see. Well, let's go then."

"Wait, Tsuna, let me check your arm." Tsuna at first was puzzled. Ryohei rarely called him by his first name but he quickly realised his guardian's intentions and held out his arm. Ryohei pulled back the sleeve and inspected the wound. It was so much like Ryohei to worry about any wound since he found out his flames could speed up the regeneration. The Sun guardian stared at it for a while before bringing out his box weapon. Tsuna now noticed the rings his sun guardian wore. All A-class sun rings. Ryohei used the scalpel covered with his sun flames to heal the small wound. Once done, both walked towards the door, a gunshot rang out and Tsuna slammed the doors open. There, before him was Reborn holding his gun aimed towards Lambo who was cowering after surviving a near death experience.

A tick mark materialised on the brunet. Lambo on seeing his older brother rush towards him and babbled. "Tsuna-nii! Reborn almost killed me!" he whined.

"Reborn…" Tsuna could barely contain his annoyance at his tutor.

"He was whining, a lot." Reborn said.

"What? That's it?"

"Yes, that's it." The brunet could only sigh and calmed down Lambo.

"Where are the others?"

"They're preparing the food. They should be coming back-"

"Thanks for waiting!"

Tsuna turned around just to see the delicacies entering the room. There was a blend of European and Eastern dishes.

"Oh Tsuna, you're here!" Yamamoto exclaimed.

"Juudaime!"

Tsuna stared at the food. "Can I ask you guys something? Don't get me wrong. I appreciate it but why is there 50 dishes?!"

Ryohei answered him. "We couldn't decide whether you wanted Eastern or European. Then Reborn suggested doing both."

Tsuna glared at his tutor who already started to eat while ignoring Tsuna's look. He saw his friends' expectant faces and Tsuna sat at the head of the table and started to eat. He complimented his friends for the rich flavours in the dishes and each felt a sense of achievement to be able to do at least one thing right for their boss ever since yesterday's incident. All of them joined their boss and started to eat as well.

Even while eating, they managed to be noisy. Tsuna wondered if peace would ever descend in the Vongola household. He then took note of the rings worn by his friends and asked, "Everyone, how long have you worn those things?"

"Things, Sawada?" Ryohei replied questioningly.

"I mean the rings."

All the guardians except Lambo looked at their hands and for sure their rings were still there. They looked guiltily until Tsuna sighed and stopped eating.

"You don't have to look so guilty, you know? I actually knew it was impossible to not use the rings what with the war and all. Better yet, all of you did salvage good box weapons if my memory is correct."

"We don't have them anymore." Yamamoto answered. Tsuna beckoned him to continue.

"From what we all can recall in our memories, those box weapons ended up with our past selves. At first, we thought it was in our rooms so we searched for them but there was nothing."

"… I didn't expect that." Tsuna murmured. Breakfast went on as usual though the discussion dampened the mood. Tsuna felt bad and tried to start a topic when the head butler alerted him.

"Decimo, the CEDEF leader is here," the head butler announced.

Tsuna quickly finish his breakfast and told the others to take their time eating. Reborn was already jumping onto Tsuna's head and the young boss coud see Yamamoto and Gokudera gobbling their food to catch up with Tsuna. They called him to wait, and he did. For 10 seconds; before taking off to the main hall of the house. He saw a young man with a briefcase in hand looking at the interior of the house.

"Basil!" Tsuna called out overjoyed to see his friend. Basil turned around, went up to his friend and shook his hand warmly.

"Sawada-dono, it's good to see you again. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer in Japan when you were recovering." Tsuna waved away at his apology. "Although I would like to exchange pleasant commentaries, you asked for something specific?"

Tsuna looks at him calmly and nodded. "Before you say anything more Basil, let's go to Tsuna's office," Reborn said.

"Reborn-san, of course," Basil replied. The three were later joined by Gokudera and Yamamoto who managed to swallow down the last of their food. They exchanged greetings briefly with Basil and walk behind them falling into step. The Storm and Rain grasping hold of the atmosphere, let go of their childish antics understanding it wasn't the time for one of their one sided quarrel which was technically only Gokudera shouting to the ever agreeable Yamamoto. Tsuna's office was in sight and less than a minute, all were quickly in. Yamamoto leaned against the door while Gokudera stood next to Tsuna's desk. Reborn opted to sit on his desk and the two heads stood in the middle of the room.

Basil handed Tsuna a file and let the young boss read through it. His eyes narrowed, not uttering a word and kept on reading through. When he was done, Tsuna put the file down on his desk and sighed, deeply.

"I wasn't expecting that. Basil is this all the information on them right now?"

"Yes, Sawada-dono. Many of my agents are still gathering out information but it's proven to be difficult. The moment they've spotted, those Millefiore subordinates will target my agents immediately."

"Where are the most common attacks?"

"That's just it, Sawada-dono. We've tried finding a pattern but it makes no sense. All of this suggests resistance."

"So, Shoichi was right. At least from what in your report says, their attacks don't take place in the cities. That's good news." Basil then excused himself to a corner of the room to answer his phone.

"Dame-Tsuna, you're forgetting something." Reborn said.

"I am?"

"What about the sudden attack on you yesterday?"

"Ah, that. I'm not sure. It's possible it could have been one of those usual assassins trying to kill me. Hayato told me to keep an open mind of the Millefiore being behind the incident. Plus I've already asked Shoichi to analyse the contents of that projectile and he's saying it might take a while." Reborn merely acknowledged the little detail.

"By the way, Reborn," Tsuna started. "I've wanted to ask you since yesterday. Before I was hit, you and Mukuro both shouted at me. Now here's what I found strange. My tutor, the greatest hit man in the world actually told me to move when he precisely knew that my Hyper Intution was not working. You could've stopped that makeshift bullet with one of your own. So why didn't you?"

"Heh. Took you this long for you to ask me that, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn cheekily replied. "I guess I should tell you. I **couldn't** move. I knew there was someone on that tower but I couldn't move."

"Wait, if you couldn't move then is the non-Tri-ni-Sette radiation back?!" Tsuna almost screamed. Gokudera was listening closely to their conversation even though he knew it wasn't his right to listen but neither party said anything and he interpreted the Reborn wanted him to pass the information to the others. Yamamoto on the other hand was focusing on Basil.

"Calm down, Tsuna. It was just for a moment. After I went with you to the mansion, I contacted the others. All of them told me they haven't felt any non-Tri-ni-Sette radiation."

Tsuna sighed in relief. If the non-Tri-ni-Sette radiation was back, he would have to start worrying about his tutor and the others. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yamamoto signalling him to Basil. The CEDEF leader was still on his phone but his actions were getting panicky. Basil sensing the attention of the room shifting to him hung up his phone.

"Basil, what's wrong?" Tsuna asked.

"I…I'm not sure if I can tell you this," he muttered.

"Basil, tell me," Tsuna stated switching into his HDWM.

The CEDEF leader reluctantly said, "I just got a call from base that Master, I mean, your father was attacked about three days ago. "

"What!" Tsuna didn't shout but his voice almost sounded like it did.

"It seems he wasn't hurt but he did say he got injected with some sort of substance."

"Injected?"

"Substance?" mouthed the two guardians.

"Yes, he could not identify the liquid. Master is positive it's not poison."

"Of course, it wasn't poison. If it was the same person, we'll both be dead already."

"Sawada-dono?"

"Basil, Tsuna got attacked too only it was yesterday." Reborn piped up.

"Are you alright?" Basil worryingly asked.

"I'm fine. Basil, what did my dad told the base?"

"Ah, yes. Though it's short notice Sawado-dono, once he knew I was coming to deliver the file to you he said he's coming over here in a few days... with your mother."

Tsuna's confident and calm demeanour cracked a bit. Reborn looked at Tsuna with amusement. 'They're coming? Mom's coming? Tsuna thought. He could feel his HDWM slipping. The two guardians went up to their boss, placed him in the chair where Reborn smacked his head. Tsuna woke up from his shock before hiding his face with a single thought running through his head. 'They're coming?!'

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So this is chapter four. It's only a bit longer as I wanted to make up for the missing month. I want to thank Chrome Nagi Dokuro, LucianaDemon27, azlealady and plantinumheart021 for following and/or favouriting my story. Thanks for being patient. And Chrome Nagi Dokuro, my first reviewer. Honestly, I wasn't even expecting to get a review. I knew I had ppl reading this and it made me happy. **

**Plus it surprised me. When I got this idea, I wanted another author to do it since I prefer to just read but then I realised that he/she wouldn't end it the way I wanted so hopefully I'll meet up with everyone's expectation of the story.**

**Okay, story wise. I wanted to let all of you know that the idea of the guardians monitoring the boss was inspired by another author which was long before I became a member of FF. So the credit of that wonderful idea goes to her/him. I didn't notice till now. Sorry. **

**P.S: Hibari's coming in the next chapter!**

**ALERT: My updates are going to be slow again. I'll try to update as much as I can. Plus if any of you guys know RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) then please understand that it's also one of the reasons my updates are going to be slow. My wrist is hurting for a while now and writing/typing a lot isn't helping it to heal. **


	5. Special Omake

**A/N: A quick one. Don't want to keep you guys from the story.**

**To my reviewers: I personally wanted to thank each and every one of you in this though it was supposed to be in chapter 5 but this came out.**

**NaruHaru, RandomPasserby (LOL), AddictedwithAnime, Yuki, Natsuki189, R27-Shipper-4Ever, XxXRikaXxX**

**All of you were understanding about my situation and was patient about the updates. Also having advice coming from you guys I took it seriously. I even persuaded my friends to type for me when I was resting my hand cause I really felt happy. It was kinda funny seeing them trying to understand what I was writing since they didn't know KHR. Ah, the moments… *cough* Let this special omake start! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. (Forgot again)**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

_Flashback in italics_

Set after Tsuna's been discharged from the medical bay: 2-3 days later, lalala~ (Random)

* * *

><p>He crept quietly into the hallway, feverishly looking both sides. A clear silence greeted him. No one was there. No one was going to interrupt him this time. He made sure everyone was busy with favours he asked that would be sure to take the whole day. He checks again to be safe than sorry and prepared to bolt towards the exit-<p>

"Vongola, what are you doing?"

Tsuna felt his hopes being trampled to the ground and turned to see Lambo Bovino, standing behind him lazily yet staring questioningly at his face.

"Nothing, Lambo," Tsuna replied hoping for the teen to go away minding his own business like always, "I'm just walking around, that's all."

Unfortunately for Tsuna, Lambo got the gist of the situation and asked again, "Walking around, Vongola? You're not planning to go into town are you?"

Tsuna stayed silent. Lambo's eyes widened at the fact and proceeded to drag the 24 year old boss away from the exit when** he** found himself being dragged towards the exit.

"Vong-Tsuna-nii, why are you dragging me along?! We're not supposed to- Did we just pass the exit?!"

"Shh, Lambo. Just come along," Tsuna replied.

"Tsuna-nii! Gokudera-shi will kill me!" Lambo protested fearing the wrath of the Storm guardian.

"No he won't," Tsuna assured Lambo. "Besides, he did say that if I wanted to go out, I should have one of you along, 'Though that wasn't my plan in the first place,' and I'm bringing you along Lambo. Plus, don't you feel bored being cooped up in the base. If you stop moaning, I'll promise to buy you your favourite snack."

"Tsuna-nii, I'm not 5 years old anymore," Lambo muttered in exasperation, "but you better buy more and I also want the grape candies."

Tsuna chuckled slightly before gesturing to Lambo to walk beside him, now that he had his co-operation instead of having to drag the unwilling boy.

"Vongola, where are we exactly going?" Lambo asked.

"I'm not sure. I knew that we built several entrances so…"

Tsuna and Lambo came out of the passageway and found themselves in an abandoned alley near the market area.

"Ah, so this is where they could easily buy the ingredients," Tsuna talked aloud.

"Vongola?"

"Nothing, Lambo. Just a fleeting conclusion," Tsuna said.

The two men step out of the alley and was unfortunately caught in a crowd of customers searching for bargains and offers. Lambo and Tsuna yelled in response at being crushed in the overbearing crowd.

* * *

><p><strong>After 10 minutes<strong>

Tsuna stood, panting to the side after successfully escaping from the mob. He made a mental note to never ever use the market entrance. Tsuna realised then that Lambo wasn't beside him.

'I did plan to go out alone in the first place. Lambo wouldn't mind if I just enjoyed myself would he?' Tsuna thought.

Truth to be told, Lambo did mind. After being swept in the crowd like Tsuna, he escaped and was panicking at the frightful image of Gokudera punishing him for losing the Tenth. When he remembered that Reborn was going to check with the other Arcobalenos, he could only sigh in relief. 'No wonder, Tsuna-nii, went out today. Reborn isn't here.'

**Back to Tsuna**

'Now that I'm out, where should I go?' Tsuna wondered. It was the first time since he was truly out alone without his friends or Reborn although he did bring Lambo and lost him along the way, the feeling was the same. Tsuna kept walking and closed his eyes for a second only to crash into someone.

"I'm very sorry. I wasn't looking and-" Tsuna continued only to be interrupted.

"Tsu-kun? Is that you?"

"Huh?" 'Tsu-kun? The only ones that called me by that is Okaa-san and…' Tsuna looks up and was greeted by a warm smile belonging to Sasagawa Kyoko.

"Kyoko-chan?!" Tsuna yelled out surprised. He hadn't kept contact with her in year ever since his fake death. Tsuna noticed the fallen items and immediately began picking them up. He handed them to Kyoko which she gratefully accepted. Both were awkwardly staring at each other. Tsuna broke off contact first and said, "Gomen, Kyoko-chan for causing you to drop your items and um-wah!"

Tsuna honestly wasn't expecting to be hugged by Kyoko of all people. He blushed slightly returning the gesture albeit hesitantly and noticed a large number of people staring at them. Opting to go to a more secluded place, Tsuna pulled Kyoko along breaking off the hug and ran off. When Kyoko started to falter along the way, he carried her gently and whispered, "Hold on," not realizing he switched to HDWM. A softer switch as no flame was present on his forehead. Tsuna later stop at the park and found a shaded area where not many people were present. He put Kyoko down and sat on the bench. He closed his eyes to rest.

"Sorry again, Kyoko. People were starting to stare at us so I brought you here. They would misunderstand the situation though I wasn't expecting to run into you today," Tsuna said absentmindedly not realizing he called her without any honorific.

Kyoko smiled at him warmly even though Tsuna still had his eyes closed. "It's alright, Tsu-kun. I'm also sorry for hugging you in the middle of nowhere." She sat beside him.

"It doesn't matter. Ne, Kyoko, do you have memories of your past self?"

"When I came to the future? Yes, I asked Onii-san about it and he said not to worry and it was all a dream."

Tsuna laughed softly. 'Typical of Ryohei to make up some sort of excuse.' "Did you believe him?"

"Onii-chan? No, not really. Then, I asked Bianchi-san to explain to Haru and me. When I asked Onii-chan about you Tsu-kun, he started to get really nervous."

Tsuna could only imagine his Sun guardian's flustered actions on attempting to assure Kyoko that nothing was wrong. He then remembered a particular memory from his past self about meeting future Kyoko. He opened his eyes and Kyoko was surprised at the change of colour.

"Ne, Kyoko, what did you mean about my past self being… you know?"

Kyoko stared at Tsuna blankly until he personally told her the particular moment when past Tsuna managed to find her and she said to past Tsuna on looking much kinder.

Kyoko blushed faintly and Tsuna noticed the colour change. "If you don't want to say, you don't have to-"

"No, no. It's just that although Onii-chan visited me from time to time, Haru-chan and I didn't hear much from you Tsu-kun for a year and we thought you changed. Haru-chan said that you might be busy and even Onii-chan said that. It was just nice seeing you again."

Tsuna let out a sigh. "I didn't want to involve you girls. I even didn't plan on letting you girls know about the mafia and even though I know that my past self has told your past self, this is a bit confusing, etto- I did feel a bit better about you girls knowing it now." Tsuna quickly asked her a question hoping to change the subject, "How is Kurokawa and Onii-san doing?"

"Hana-chan said she wanted to have a word with you. She also told me that she and Onii-chan was going out on a date today. Didn't Onii-chan tell you?"

"So that's why I couldn't find him shouting in the morning. Lucky for me." Tsuna once again chuckled lightly. Then panicked at the thought of facing Kurokawa Hana; he had a feeling she knew what talk they were going to have.

"Tsu-kun?"

"Nothing, Kyoko... Eh- Di-Did I just call your name without any honorific this whole time?" His eyes widened realizing the certain fact. "Gomenasai, Kyoko-chan, I didn't even realised." Tsuna at this point reverted back to his usual self.

"Kyoko."

"Huh?"

"You can call me Kyoko, Tsu-kun. It's alright. You allowed me to call you 'Tsu-kun' a few years ago. I'm returning the favour and you do call Haru-chan without any honorific so it's fine."

Tsuna was surprised at the suggestion and though he felt that he should reject her idea, he didn't want to get into an argument with Kyoko of all things. 'It's just her name. So, it should be fine, right?' Tsuna thought. He stayed silent for a few minutes before nodding.

"Alright, I'll take that offer…Kyoko." 'This feels strange.' Kyoko brightly smiled at Tsuna. "Wait, were you in the middle of shopping?" Tsuna pointed to her bag. "Gomen, Kyoko-cha, I mean, Kyoko. And I just dragged you here!"

"It's alright, Tsu-kun. Actually, I was done. I was just checking the items one last time." She giggled a bit earning a confused look from the brunet. "You said 'sorry' too many times already." Kyoko suddenly stood up and face Tsuna directly. She held out her hand and Tsuna was puzzled at the gesture. "Let's go, Tsu-kun."

"Go? Where?"

"Enjoy ourselves, of course. I accidentally overheard Onii-chan saying to Hana-chan about you. He said you weren't allowed to go out. I didn't want to say anything about it but now that you're out let's go!"

Tsuna could feel his cheeks blushing out of embarrassment. Even his long time crush knew about his predicament. He was glad that she didn't say anything else. Tsuna accepted her hand and she pulled him along. 'She wasn't this energetic in the past. I wonder why she's all worked up.' Tsuna thought.

* * *

><p><strong>2 hours ago<strong>

Lambo was still searching frantically for Tsuna. 'Is this how young Vongola felt when he took care of younger me?' Lambo thought. He had already checked multiple stores and Tsuna was still nowhere to be seen. He went inside a particular cake shop and unfortunately missed a certain scene of a brunet carrying a female and dashing off towards the park. Lambo walked around the shop noticing the delicacies. His mouth began to drool. 'No, no, no.' He shook his head. 'Need to look for Vongola to avoid getting killed by Gokudera-shi.'

"Hahi?! Is it Lambo-chan?" Lambo turned to the female voice of a person he knew almost all his life.

"Haru-nee! What are you doing here?" He asked surprised to encounter Haru.

"I'm buying a cake for my parents. They returned home yesterday and I wanted to celebrate their coming home after all that's happened. Now, Lambo-chan, tell me. What are you doing here?"

"Me? Uh… looking for Vong-Tsuna-nii…" Lambo dejectedly said.

"Hahi?! Tsuna-san is here?!" Haru's face lit is happiness.

"Not exactly, Haru-nee." Lambo told Haru what had happened. It took 15 minutes to explain the whole incident to Haru.

"So, in short, Tsuna-san wasn't allowed to go out but you found him trying to sneak out. When you tried to stop him, he brought you along. Then when you arrived here, both of you got separated by a vicious crowd. If you don't find him before Gokudera-kun does, he'll kill you?" Haru concluded. Lambo nodded hoping to get Haru to his side so he'll have at least have another person Gokudera can't handle.

"That Tako-head! How dare he bully a child!" Haru shouted causing everyone in the shop to look at her.

Lambo cheered in his head only to realize that Haru had called him a child. "Haru-nee, I'm 15 now. I'm no longer a child."

However, Haru was caught up at the moment and didn't manage to hear Lambo. Elsewhere, a certain silver-haired sneezed.

"Don't worry, Lambo-chan. Haru-nee will properly put that hot tempered jerk down." Lambo could only hope that this time his plan won't backfire. "But first, I need to buy the cake. After this we'll search for Tsuna-san and see to that Gokudera Hayato wouldn't do anything bad to Lambo-chan."

* * *

><p>Tsuna was licking his ice cream slowly, looking towards where Kyoko was paying the vendor. He had opted to pay but Kyoko insisted she did. Tsuna sighed. It was nice to see her again after the mess he had put himself into. He then wondered if he would see Haru given the chances that he had met Kyoko accidentally. He then felt something dropping and inwardly cursed nothing too great as the ice-cream left stains on his shirt. Luckily, he had taken off his coat when it was starting to heat up. Kyoko had folded the coat neatly into her basket. Tsuna was still wearing his formal attire though comfortably. He had folded the sleeves to his elbows, his tie was in his pocket and top button collar was unbuttoned. Needless to say, Tsuna was comfortable without the extra accessories. He wiped the ice-cream off hurriedly and began licking again.<p>

"Ano, Tsu-kun. Here's some napkins." Kyoko presented with him some when she saw his situation.

"Arigatou, Kyoko. " Tsuna gratefully took some napkins wiping off some of the melted ice cream.

"Where should we go next?" Kyoko asked.

"Kyoko, if you don't mind can we stop by the water fountain?"

"I don't mind at all." Kyoko once again took his hand leading him towards the fountain. She was beside him eating her ice cream as with Tsuna. She then released her hold on Tsuna's hand as the water fountain came into view. They both had finished their ice creams and were now staring at the various dances of the water fountain. Tsuna walked up to it scooped some water and splashed some to his face. 'That felt better.' He thought. He shook some water out of his hair.

Kyoko was smiling to herself. Now that she knew about her brother's and Tsuna's involvement in the mafia, she could support them without being in the dark. Even if was to help the boss, escaping from his guardians. She saw Tsuna splashing his face and hair with water. 'Was the heat getting to him', she thought. Suddenly, the area around the fountain was flooded with people.

Tsuna strangely felt the danger rather than seeing it. He turned around slowly and was surprised to see many people crowding him; more than half being young girls. He shrieked inwardly. 'It's happening all over again.' The girls were closing in. Tsuna saw Kyoko at the same place and gestured to her to get ready. She looked at him indifferently. He imagined himself saying sorry again for the nth time today to Kyoko.

Tsuna briefly switched into HDWM and maneuvered through the crowd. Dodging their hands left and right, reaching Kyoko, pulling her towards him, carrying her again the second time today and rushed out of the park. Tsuna muttered an apology to Kyoko once again. He look back to see that there were still some girls chasing him. He changed course, running towards the market place again. As Tsuna took various twists and turns to lose them, he briefly saw the familiar cow printed shirt before dismissing it and concentrated on getting out alive.

**5 minutes later**

"Are you alright, Kyoko?" Tsuna asked setting her down. He sat down, gasping for air. He had just recovered and running around Namimori wasn't his idea of having some relaxation.

"Yes, but are you alright Tsu-kun?" Kyoko worriedly asked him. He gestured to her of being okay and just needed to catch his breath. "Tsu-kun, I think you should go back and have some rest. Won't the others worry about you?"

Tsuna breathe in one more time before answering her, "It's fine. I told Hayato to get started on some paperwork Reborn told me to do. Takeshi's out visiting his dad at Takesushi, Chrome and Mukuro are patching things with the Kokuyo gang, Lambo's here but I lost him and Hibari-san…"

Tsuna trailed off. He didn't have to say anything. Hibari was one person who won't care anything unless it concerns the well-being of Namimori.

"Eh, Lambo-chan's lost?"

"Yeah, I lost him before I met you."

"Tsu-kun, I think it's better if we find him." Tsuna didn't want to find Lambo but since Kyoko was worried about him, he went along with her idea.

* * *

><p><strong>Back to Lambo<strong>

"Haru-nee, we've checked every store but Tsuna-nii isn't here!" Lambo whined.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else. Tsuna-san might not be here anymore." Haru replied disappointed.

"Ha-Haru-nee are you alright?"

"Yes, I just wanted to ask Tsuna-san about something."

"Does it have to do with the-" Lambo started but was interrupted by few screams.

"Did you see where he went?"

"I think he turned around the corner!"

"He was carrying someone in his arms!"

"Kyaa! I want the same treatment!"

Lambo and Haru looked towards the source of screams seeing multiple girls chatting in excitement.

'It couldn't be…Tsuna-nii? Right?' Lambo thought. To make sure, Lambo walked to the girls before they had a chance to continue their chase and asked, "Excuse me, but is the person you're talking about a brunet? About this high?" He gestured to them.

"Yes, he was about this tall."

"Did you see where he went?" Haru was standing behind Lambo.

"I'm not sure," The girl said in frustration. "I saw him dashing-"

"Oh! Isn't it Lambo?"

Lambo turned to the new voice and his insides immediately regretted that action. Standing behind him and Haru was Yamamoto Takeshi in his formal attire, holding a package from Takesushi .

"Ta-Takeshi-nii, what are you doing here?" Lambo asked hesitantly. 'Please say you're on a delivery, please say that. I don't want to get into anymore trouble.'

"Hahi?! Yamamoto-san!"

"I was just on my way to give these to Tsuna! Oyaji said that he want to give these to Tsuna as a gift. What are you guys doing here?"

"We're looking for-" Lambo closed Haru's mouth before she could say anything else.

"Nothing! Takeshi-nii, shouldn't you hurry back?" Lambo asked. 'Say yes.'

"Ah, you're right. I should-"

Before Yamamoto could say anything more, an ear splitting shriek echoed through. Lambo nervously turned and saw ten times more girls.

"Haru-nee, can you run fast?"

"Eh? Of course, Lambo-chan? Why?"

"Then let's go!" Lambo pulled Haru along who stumbled at the unexpected force until running along Lambo. He looked back and saw Yamamoto following the same direction they were.

"Takeshi-nii! What are you doing?!" Lambo yelled.

"Aren't we playing tag?" He answered. If it wasn't for the girls chasing them, Lambo would've showed his shocked reaction at the Rain's obliviousness.

"Do you know that they're chasing you?!"

"Eh?" Yamamoto looked back and saw the pack of girls. "Oh, so that's why I heard them telling me to stop." He laughed cheerfully before reminiscing, "I remember this happened to Tsuna too. It was fun."

"Takeshi-nii…"

"Why are those girls chasing us?" Haru screamed. She was still running alongside the two men and exhaustion was creeping into her legs. "Hahi?! Lambo-chan, is that Gokudera-san over there?"

Lambo peeked into the distance and confirmed that Gokudera Hayato was indeed a few meters ahead of them looking awfully annoyed. He was frantically looking around and his eyes lit in recognition as he saw them. He started walking towards them until… he saw what was actually making them run.

"You idiots!" He shouted before turning around to run.

"Gokudera-shi, wait! Haru-nee can't run anymore!" Lambo shouted back catching up quickly to the Storm guardian.

Gokudera paused, took one look at Haru's state, sighed heavily and… carried her in his arms. "Che, you idiotic woman. Making things difficult." He continued running with Lambo to his left and Yamamoto on his right.

Unfortunately, Gokudera's remark was noticed. "What did you say?!"

"Haru-nee, you can beat up Gokudera-shi all you want later but for now let's escape from them."

"What did you say, Ahoushi!" It was now Gokudera's turn to glare at Lambo.

"Maa,maa, Gokudera." Yamamoto looks back once more and was satisfied by what he was seeing. "I think we can stop now."

When Yamamoto declared it was safe, Gokudera and Lambo stopped running, Haru got out of Gokudera's hold and all of them stood to catch their breath.

"Sa, Gokudera, what are you doing out here?" Yamamoto asked.

"I was looking for Shibaku-atama. He nearly destroyed a part of the base when Juudaime was released though Juudaime didn't say anything; I was going to reprimand him today."

"Didn't you know?" Yamamoto questioned.

"Know what?"

"Sasagawa-senpai said he was going on a date with Kurokawa today." As soon as Gokudera heard this, he cursed. While the two was on this matter, Lambo quickly whispered to Haru.

"Haru-nee, these two don't know that Tsuna-nii is here. Can you not tell them, please?"

"Why? The more the merrier, right?"

"Yes but Tsuna-nii didn't tell anyone he was going out except for me."

Haru eyes widened in realization. 'So that's why he stopped me from telling Yamamoto-san.'

"And, why are you and this woman here?" Gokudera directed the question to them.

Haru feeling insulted answered him, "Excuse me, but this woman has a name. Hmph."

Gokudera looked at her muttering something inexcusable before staring at Lambo.

"I-I was just strolling around, Gokudera-shi. Didn't Vongola tell you to finish his paperwork?"

Gokudera eyed Lambo suspiciously before answering, "I finished them."

"Already?!"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, not at all!" Lambo was slightly panicking. 'How can he finish them so fast? Tsuna-nii takes more time than him!' At a distance, a brunet sneezed.

"I better go back. Yamamoto, you coming?"

"Yeah, I need to give these to Tsuna," Yamamoto replied.

"Wait! I'm coming too." Lambo said. He tugged at Haru to follow them.

"What about Tsuna-san?" she whispered.

"If they find out Tsuna-nii's not there, Gokudera-shi will go ballistic." He whispered back. Lambo hoped that he could stall enough time for Tsuna to return back to bask. Regrettably, after for more than a few meters, a familiar noise tingle the senses of the 3 men. Yamamoto directed a look towards Gokudera. Both of them were thinking of the same thing.

'It couldn't be…' All 3 men turned around. Each had a different reaction. Gokudera was surprised, happy then was slightly furious. Yamamoto was shocked then happy. Lambo was surprised also but it quickly turned to a mix of happiness and fear. The reason for the different reactions was because a certain person was running towards them and behind that person was the crowd that they lost earlier.

"Juudaime!"  
>"Tsuna!"<br>"Vongola!"

Though Tsuna was trying to lose the crowd, once he saw his friends, he frantically waved at them to start running. All of them understood. Gokudera carried Haru ignoring her protests of being able to run once again. The four friends dashed out of town all heading to the known location of the nearest entrance of their base: the warehouses. They split up and regrouped 30 minutes later.

All were drastically tired after being chased for the second time today even Yamamoto who was still cheerful looked fatigued.

Tsuna breathe in and out to the side, sitting on the floor. Today was just a total disaster. He closed his eyes to find peace until it was disrupted by someone tackling him. He recognized the figure immediately.

"Haru?!" Haru was fiercely gripping onto Tsuna until Gokudera pried her off him.

"What are you trying to do to Juudaime?!" He yelled at her. Tsuna signaled to Gokudera to stop his action. He stopped immediately backing away from them as he understood what Tsuna planned on doing.

"Haru, are you okay?" Tsuna asked softly.

"Of course, Tsuna-san. Haru is not so weak." She replied confidently. Tsuna smiled in response. She was the same as always.

"Does that mean that you're also fine after the memories from your past self?"

Haru was quiet for a while. Tsuna was worried for a while until she spoke, "Tsuna-san should have told Haru and Kyoko-chan a long time ago. Even if you don't want us involved, I would have wanted to know."

"Yeah, maybe I should have told you." Tsuna pats her head and stood up helping Haru to her feet.

"Tsuna-san, where were you today? Lambo and I have been searching for you."

"Eh? You have? You didn't have to. I was with a friend."

"Haru wanted to Tsuna-san. Tsuna-san is always important to Haru." When all was well with the both of them, Gokudera stomped towards Tsuna, anger covering over his face.

"Juudaime, I thought we agreed on you staying inside the base," Gokudera sternly said.

"Yes, you did but I also recall you saying that if I brought one of you along, I could go into town. I did bring Lambo along with me," Tsuna calmly replied.

Gokudera whirled onto Lambo who was now trying to hide behind Haru. "Ahoushi, why didn't you tell me about it?!"

"Now, wait just a minute, Gokudera-san, Lambo-chan told me how you're always beating him. He hasn't done anything wrong now so don't yell at him." Haru answered him.

"This has nothing to do with you, idiotic woman!"

"What does that mean?!" She retorted back.

Tsuna and Lambo stood to the side watching the fight go back and forth between them. Yamamoto was just smiling at them as this was a common occurrence.

"Vongola, do you ever think they'll ever show an interest in one another?" He whispered not wanting the attention of a raged Storm guardian.

"If that happens, I would welcome it but…" Tsuna trailed off as he remembers the constant fights between the both of them. He thought as the years went by, the fights would be proven as an attraction but nothing changed and Tsuna realised not to stick his nose in some unexplainable matters. He then started to hear Gokudera cursing a bit more and was going to put a stop to it when the Storm guardian fell. Tsuna shocked at the unexpected action switched into his HDWM. Yamamoto grabbed Haru from where she stood staring at the fallen guardian and into the shade of the warehouse. Lambo pulled out his horns. They waited for any signs of danger and were greeted by one.

"Dame-Tsuna, you reacted too slowly. We need to work on that and it also seems that your Hyper Intuition is still sleeping," Reborn sighed revealing himself in front of them.

"Reborn!"  
>"Reborn-chan!"<br>"Yo,akanbou!"

"Don't worry about Gokudera, Haru. He's just unconscious." Reborn assured the girl. "I think it's time you went back. It's getting late." Haru nodded, looking at Tsuna over her shoulder, giving him a brief smile before setting out on going home. "Yamamoto, escort her, will you?" Reborn said. Yamamoto complied not before giving the package to Tsuna who looked surprised at the item.

"A gift from Oyaji," Yamamoto replied quickly, waving to Tsuna before turning to catch up to Haru.

"Lambo, carry Gokudera in and make sure he's in his bed," Reborn ordered.

"Why does Ore-same need to do it?" Lambo whined.

"Do I need to shoot you too?" Reborn threatened.

"No, no," Lambo furiously shook his head. He carried Gokudera and bid Tsuna off.

"Lambo, wait. Here are the snacks and candies I promised you." Tsuna tossed the items to Lambo who gratefully showed his appreciation by… running towards the entrance. Tsuna was left alone with Reborn.

"Now, what did you exactly do to Hayato, Reborn?" Tsuna asked not leaving his HDWM.

His tutor smirked. "A gift to you for returning from the hospital. I shot him a special bullet that will make him lose the events prior of today." His student raised his eyebrows.

"It's nothing serious. He'll only remember the part where he met Yamamoto and the others. He won't recall meeting you out here today. Even you should have a break…once in a while."

"…That's quite useful …Thank you, Reborn… Wait, I thought you were visiting the other Arcobaleno." Tsuna stated.

"I was."

"And?"

"I did. Were you thinking that it would take me the whole day? Heh, Dame-Tsuna, you still have a lot to learn. Anyway, how was your date with Kyoko?"

If Reborn was expecting a reaction from his student, he didn't show it. Nor did Tsuna yet if one look closely, the brunet was troubled by it. "It wasn't a date, Reborn and you know that."

Reborn stared at his student before continuing. "You carried her twice in your arms today; she was alone with you half the day and you're calling her name without any honorific."

"Firstly, she insisted that I call her that since I let her call me 'Tsu-kun', secondly, the first situation where I carried her was when there were many people misunderstanding the situation, the second was when a pack of girls were chasing after me and thirdly, is it wrong to spend some time with a friend?"

"Hmm…" Reborn didn't answer but spoke a final time. "You parted ways with her before getting chased again. She gave you something. What was it?"

Tsuna stared ahead remembering the event.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_Tsuna had finished buying the treats he promised Lambo when he heard the familiar shout of his Storm guardian. 'He couldn't possibly be here. Right?' Tsuna blanked out for a while until someone tugged at his shirt._

"_Tsu-kun, are you okay?" Kyoko asked._

_Tsuna blinked twice before responding, "Yes, I was just thinking of something."_

"_Did you get everything you needed?"_

"_Yeah, Lambo won't complained once I give him these," Tsuna grinned and Kyoko giggled._

_They had been searching for Lambo for the past few hours and there was no sign of the unique design of the cow printed shirt. Tsuna suggested then to buy the things he promised Lambo with Kyoko following. She told him the places of where to buy them and he was thankful due to being out of the world for a year. _

"_Kyoko, do you know what the time is?" he asked abruptly._

"_It's already four thirty. Ah, gomen, Tsu-kun but I have to go," she said apologetically._

"_Don't worry about it." Tsuna smiled at her and she smiled back._

"_Do you still have the good luck charm?"_

"_Yes, it's in my pocket of my coat. Why?"_

"_I'm going to fix it back and Tsu-kun here." She put a small box into Tsuna's hand._

"_Eh? What is this?"_

"_A present. For spending the day with me. And also to thank you for all that you've done these past years." She smiled appreciatively at him. _

_Tsuna surprised at the sudden gift tried to refuse it but Kyoko was stubborn. "Then you can keep the coat. It's not a proper gift but I'll give you one next time we meet again." They smiled at each other one last time before departing ways. Tsuna watched Kyoko turn around the corner before turning one himself. He kept on walking. 'I wonder what's in the box.' He opened it and chuckled at the thought-ness of her present. _

'_Isn't that the same guy from the park?' Tsuna was jolted from his thoughts and saw the same crowd. He gulped before breaking off into a run._

_End Flashback_

* * *

><p>"So what was in the box?" Reborn asked again as he noticed his student's faraway look. Tsuna took a moment to answer.<p>

"Nothing, Reborn. Nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't that special too." Tsuna laughed lightly before retreating back into the base.

Reborn looked at him. "That cheekiness of him. Since when did he have that?" Reborn followed suit and returned back to the base. 'Well, it doesn't matter. Although, Dame-Tsuna may have averted me, he won't next time. Especially when I tell them he sneaked off to the forest.'

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm not back yet. This is just a special chapter that should last this month till my exams are over. This idea was killing me for a few weeks and I had to write it. **

**Story wise: I was always intrigued by how Kyoko changed how she called Tsuna in the future. Truth enough, it was a matter I wanted to explain. I thought that Tsuna's feelings were reciprocated (returned). However, since TYL Tsuna was already working on stopping Byakuran when he was like in high or was it mid, I mean school. Anyway since I thought that Tsuna was already busy working on the plan, there was little chance that he could hang out with Kyoko. **

**I actually planned for this to be one of the chapters but I wanted to speed the story up. The point is in this chapter that Tsuna and Kyoko are more than friends but not boyfriend and girlfriend. They're more like close friends. Yeah, I know the story written might not be like that but that's what I aim. It's possible the two girls would come by later but it's not confirmed. Hehe…**

**PLUS a word of thanks to AddictedwithAnime, R27-Shipper-4Ever and ****Bernie6394**** for favouriting/following this story. **

**P.S If there's any spelling mistakes tell me. I'm re-reading the past chapters and noticed some. 0.0**

**And another big thank you to the reviewers. ^^**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: A quick one. In chapter 4, it was mentioned that Tsuna's parents would be coming in two days. I changed it for the time in this chapter to fit. Only the time was changed.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Happy Reading!

* * *

><p>Few days later<p>

Vongda Stronghold in Italy

"This is getting ridiculous!" Tsuna shouted.

"Kufufu~, what do you mean, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro innocently asked.

"You, that's **'who'** I mean. I sent all my other guardians 3 days ago, and why aren't you gone?"

"If you mean the recon mission you sent for me, my superior – other than you that is – told Lambo to cover for me."

"Other than me? …" Tsuna muttered then realised, "Hayato…"

The heterochromia merely smirk at the boy's few whimsical attempts to get rid of his guardians during the past few days. Although some of the missions assigned were real, Gokudera strongly stated that at least one of them was to stay at the mansion. It was now Mukuro's turn.

"Superior?" Tsuna questionably said.

"Call it what you like, Sawada Tsunayoshi. A mere attempt on pitying your guardian to think he has power over me. You know nobody can order me unless I do it to amuse their power."

"Including me?"

The illusionist shrugs his shoulders lightly. Tsuna sighs in dismay before continuing, "But Lambo?! He sent Lambo to do your work?! That mission I asked you to do was to survey the area, **discreetly**."

"Then isn't that easy?"

"Mukuro, that place is filled with traps!" 'Plus Lambo's known for his theatrics,' Tsuna added as an afterthought.

Mukuro's grin falters, "What kind of traps?"

Tsuna's eyes shone dangerously at that question and answered him steely, " Your kind of traps."

Mukuro knew by now he treaded on dangerous ground. Even though the cow was the Lightning guardian of Vongola Decimo, he was still a kid according to Tsuna. By time, to Mukuro, the young brunet had grown quite a long way from his past dame self. This present Tsuna standing before him could make the high powered illusionist actually run which is a first time considering he was stuck in Vindince for 10 years and if he was his past self. But Mukuro was no push over, he also had grown these past 10 years so seeing this sight slightly lighted an interest of testing out the Vongola's current strength. Also, Chrome had made the heterochromia promise to not back away from their boss even if he discovered the switch they made.

"Kufufu~, you don't have to worry so much. I suspect that both your Storm and Lightning had an inkling of this. But they chose to do it." Mukuro said the last line with emphasis to calm the young boss. It worked and Tsuna lightly slump in his chair.

"If my parents weren't coming over tonight, consider yourself lucky Mukuro."

The illusionist sweats briefly before placing a smug smile on his face.

"What time is it?" Tsuna asked

"Two in the morning."

Tsuna groaned, "When did they say they'll be coming?"

"Around 9 in the morning." Tsuna let a silent scream escape his mouth, and then sigh.

"It's bad enough that I have to suffer from Reborn's killer training in the morning and the fact that you guys are nowadays suffocating my lack of personal space; but to get this much paperwork? How can they already start destroying stuff? Although it's decreased a lot which I'm thankful for, these stacks are still too much!" He pointed to the papers beside his desk which took a corner of the room.

Mukuro merely grinned at Tsuna's current dilemma and minded his own business allowing Tsuna to continue his work. He knew sooner or later, the young boss would fall asleep. Tsuna did fall asleep at 4 in the morning though a few papers were still left. His head lay on the desk and his mouth slightly opened. Mukuro casted an illusion of a blanket over Tsuna, bid him goodnight and exited the room silently.

* * *

><p>"Sir, it's ready."<p>

Shichirou stood up and eagerly asked, "They completed the contraption?"

"Yes, they've said the energy readings look stable but…"

"But?"

"They are not sure if the device will be function properly. A test wasn't carried out to ensure its capabilities and-"

"Ah, that. You don't have to worry. It'll work." Shichirou said interrupting with confidence. His helper stared at him blankly which he avoided and proceeded towards the lab.

'Finally, finally,' he thought. The Millefiore boss walked quickly eager to test the contraption's capabilities. Once he arrived in the room, scientists who still had their free will, noticed his presence and hurriedly stood in attention.

"Start the machine," Shichirou ordered.

The head scientist didn't falter and did as he asked even if the untested machine could injure the boss. Why? Because Shichirou said so and the fact that he saw what had happened to the former head. The tense man pressed a few buttons here and there, ordering the others to start the procedure. Shichirou watched them worked humming a tune taught to him by the former boss. The machine in front of him glowed for a while, alerting the Millefiore boss of his plan coming together. The machine in front of him shone for a while, brightening the entire room before redeeming its glow. When it was safe to open their eyes, Byakuran's face materialised.

"Good morning, everyone, Byakuran here! Hmm, if this message is playing, then it means my little boy gave you the schematics and I'm not there anymore! What a pity!" He paused as if looking for some cries even if he was a hologram. It didn't help that everyone in the room was shocked to see his face.

Like he could read the atmosphere, Byakuran continued, "Aww… you guys are so cruel! Not even a tear in your eyes. *sniff* Does no one care for me? Well, never mind, I suspect the reason I died is due to Tsunayoshi-kun and Yuni-chan, right? *sigh* Two of the Tri-ni-Sette against me. Yuni being the Sky Arcobaleno, I would have never imagined! Ah, I'm getting off track again. Shichi-chan! Since this message is being played, I'm just mentioning that you need the Tri-ni-Sette for this to work!"

When Shichirou heard the news, he almost smacked his head against the wall. He had forgotten about that. As if he was still alive, Byakuran said, "Ah, you forgot about it didn't you? Really, always the same forgetful person, Shichi-chan! I remembered the first time I let you come into a meeting with nothing but…"

Shichirou felt his cheeks turned red and glared murderously at Byakuran who holographic or not was enjoying teasing the current boss. The others looked in shocked surprised to see him being intimidated and embarrassed easily. 'Byakuran-sama…,' all of them thought in awe.

"Haha! Teasing Shichi-chan is so fun! Maybe I'll try that on Tsunayoshi-kun… Back to the matter at hand, I've talked about this plan to you for another purpose and," Byakuran became serious, "I know that you, Shichirou is going to use this for another reason. I won't interfere; mostly because I'm dead, ha-ha. Because I knew of your forgetfulness, I used the Mare rings and the Arcobaleno pacifiers already. 'But the sky and sun weren't obtained.' Yes, true enough I couldn't obtain them but with enough flames from the other two sets, I accomplished it. I'm cautioning you, Shichirou that to get enough sky and sun flames, it will drain a lot from its host. Be careful. Just supply the machine with enough flames from any in the Tri-ni-Sette and it will work. So that's the tutorial! Good luck, Shichi-chan!" Byakuran happily ended the message.

Shichirou lightly acknowledged Byakuran's goodbye before tuning in to his thoughts. 'The Tri-ni-Sette was required to do this? Thank goodness he did this for me.' He then noticed everyone else in the room was still in a trance after briefly meeting with the ex-Millefiore boss.

"And what are you all standing around for?!" He barked at them. The researchers flinched before running off in a fluster continuing on with their jobs of monitoring the machine's level. Shichirou advanced towards the device's swirling light before being handed a small device attached to a chain. He looked towards the scientist who explained as fervently as he could, "This allows you to alert us when you need to come back. Communication is highly doubtful in this situation. If you lose this, it is highly improbable that you are not able to come back here at all…sir."

"What if it breaks?"

"If it breaks, a signal would be sent immediately and we would be forced to get you out of any of your current predicament."

"Is that all?" The man in the coat nodded. Shichirou looked deep in thought before speaking again, "How many of these do you have?"

"At the moment, 2, sir."

"2? Then, here's a new order for you. From what I can perceive, these things are going to be easily destroyed. I suggest making at least a dozen of these devices coated with Lightning flames." The man nodded and bowed to the boss respectfully, before shouting off commands. Shichirou looked at his attire. 'This is going to attract a lot of attention. A casual look for where I'm going would be better. Ah, better not forget the face also.' Mist flames began forming around his body making new clothes for the boss. Before anyone could realise the change, he stepped in the swirling vortex.

'Huh, so what our records of them going through time is true after all; a long hole full of swirly, no, more accurately a mixture of the most of annoying colours.' Shichirou honestly was expecting to be stuck in the vortex for what he felt like hours since he entered. Then, he began to feel effect of experiencing small headaches accompanied by the feeling of numbness before fading away as quickly as it came. He saw the end of the vortex and felt himself being deposited a few metres away from an old store.

"So, it did work," he said to himself. He took out the syringe he prepared beforehand and played with his hands. "Now, where is he?" Shichirou surveyed the area. It was not a sight to be praised. The town was in a poor state no matter how much repairs were done to cover its wounds. 'A broken part of town,' Shichirou deduced. 'So, it is true. He was from here. I would feel sorry for him if he wasn't related to Decimo.' He stretched his body before gleefully declaring, "Time to track that blond."

* * *

><p>"Kufufu~, Sawada Tsunayoshi, you look worse for wear," Mukuro complimented wholeheartedly as the frazzled brunet was yawning while walking down the halls.<p>

"Don't even start, Rokudo Mukuro," Tsuna growled lightly allowing his HDWM to take control faintly. "In the first place, is it normal to wake up a recovered yet sleep deprived, half locked Hyper Intuition Mafia boss with one of your twisted illusions?"

"You should know by now that the term 'normal' never applies to us."

Tsuna glared at him before retorting back, "Then, does that rule also apply to the term 'sane'?"

Mukuro innocently blinked. "It is not my fault that anyone associated with the Vongola does not have their heads right except me."

Tsuna rebutted back, "And Chrome?"

"Kufufu~, Chrome is also an exception." Tsuna waved the comment over knowing the conversation would lead them nowhere.

"And the others are they back yet?"

"Oya, oya, I did not imagine myself to be your personal informer ever since that silver haired guardian of yours went away; nor did I expect it to be part of the surveillance role."

"Mukuro, are you done yet?" Tsuna briefly closed his eyes to ebb down the annoyance he felt towards his Mist guardian.

"Not quite. I'm enjoying these new experiences while I'm here alone without the others intruding especially the Storm even if he has more control of his temper these past years."

"And what would that be?"

"Kufufu~, a secret."

Tsuna deeply sighed. "I have a feeling telling me I shouldn't ask and I'm going to follow its advice. So, when they are coming back?"

Mukuro walked beside Tsuna feeling his game of bantering with the brunet was coming to an end and responded to his question, "All of them have finished early with the exception of the Lightning guardian. Your Storm told me to inform you that all of them would be arriving later than planned as they would be helping out with the cow's mission." Tsuna accepted the news with a light nod, glad to know Lambo was going to have some help. It was almost 9 and he knew his parents were about to arrive any minute.

"Ah, I have just remembered," Mukuro faking remembrance said.

Tsuna swore under his breath that every time he heard Mukuro say that, he would already have a jar full of coins. 'Not a bad idea.'

"And what have you just remembered Mukuro?" Tsuna resignedly asked.

"Hibari Kyoya arrived an hour ago and is talking with the akanbou."

Tsuna froze before continuing to walk again. "When did Reborn come back? I thought he said he wanted to go visit someone. Wait a minute, both of them… talking?"

"Yes, talking. The Arcobaleno arrived 15 minutes ago. They haven't broken anything yet. He seems to be telling that skylark about the attack on you days ago and-"

The illusionist was interrupted by a doorbell ring. Tsuna motioned to Mukuro to continue, arriving at the main door. He had dismissed the other staff as soon as he heard his parents were coming.

"Continuing from what I left, the Arcobaleno wanted to discuss if Hibari had sensed any anomaly while coming here."

Tsuna raised his eyebrows at Mukuro. "Hmm… thanks, Mukuro." Tsuna turned his attention towards the door, "That must be them." He opened the door only to fall down after being bulldozed by the rush of his mother's excitement.

"Kaa-san, I can't breathe." Tsuna struggled from his mother's heart-warming but crushing hug returning the gesture with difficulty. Nana finally released her son after some coaxing from Iemitsu. Tsuna stood back up breathing deeply and silently.

"I'm sorry, Tsu-kun, but the last time we saw you were when we left Japan." Nana apologetically said.

"No, it's fine. I missed you too." Tsuna replied with a smile, 'Considering I was in a coffin for a year.'

"Ara, Tsu-kun, where are your friends?"

"You mean, Hayato and Takeshi? They have an errand to do," Tsuna smoothly replied.

"Bossu, I'm home," A voice floated through the room.

"Welcome home… Chrome?!" Tsuna exclaimed. On hearing a girl's voice, Nana shifted her attention from her son to the girl.

"Chrome-chan!" Nana happily greeted.

"It's nice to see you again, Bossu's okaa-san." Chrome politely said back.

"Ara, Chrome-chan. I've told you before, you can call me Mama."

Chrome blushed and soon the two ladies were catching up on some of Nana's trip during Italy and news of Chrome's 'job'.

"It's not that I'm not happy to see you here Chrome but I thought you and the others were coming back later?" Tsuna interrupted the talk between both females.

"I sent Mukuro-sama a message about me arriving earlier. Storm told me to return home since he didn't want everyone to help with Lambo and also saying something about worrying about Bossu. Did Mukuro-sama not tell you that?" Chrome replied confused.

"No, apparently he did not," Tsuna felt his frustration with his Mist guardian grows, "I did expect this from Mukuro but to this extent…" He sighs.

At this moment, Iemitsu took the chance to speak to Tsuna. "Chrome, why don't you and Nana go to the kitchen? Nana's been dying to cook for Tsuna ever since we planned on visiting."

Chrome noticed the urgency in the ex-CEDEF's leader voice and complied. Once the two ladies were out of earshot, Ietmitsu motioned to Tsuna. Tsuna, already aware of the hidden attention behind their visit asked, "Now, what's the real reason you came here, Tou-san."

Iemitsu grinned wanly at his son. Their father-son relationship had improved over the years. Tsuna didn't hate his dad anymore and as he grew older, he saw no point in staying mad at Iemitsu forever. He begrudgingly accepted the fact of the reasons Iemitsu needed to stay in Italy during his childhood days. Another reason for repairing the broken relationship between them was due to the fact of all the constant planning Tsuna did after meeting Shoichi left his mother in need of some company.

It also helped that Nana for once actually took the initiative and mended their relationship by threatening the both of them. When they asked where she learned such threats, she replied with a smile full of knowing and said Reborn suggested to her when he was watching a 'drama' of a broken relationship between father and son. It wasn't surprising to say the least that both Tsuna and Iemitsu agreed Reborn to be really merciless.

"Really, Tsuna? A father can't just visit his son?" Tsuna in response stared evenly. "Hmm, becoming Decimo really… I first want to say Congratulations, of course." It was Tsuna's turn to look surprise.

"What for?"

"For your recovery and all the hardships of betting on putting your younger self here to defeat Byakuran along with the others; I know you well enough you didn't want the kids and girls involved. However, I want to do the opposite for letting us think you died."

"How did you know?"

"I'm your father, Tsuna. Gokudera contacted me. Luckily for us, I didn't tell Nana. She would be worried sick, wanting to come back to Japan to see her son's dead body. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about this. You've accomplished what you wanted and I'm proud of what you did regardless the method chosen." Iemistsu patted his son on the back. He was still taller than Tsuna despite the brunet having a growth spurt during his teenage years. Tsuna whispered a few words to his father giving a sincere smile in the end. "I heard from Basil that you got interjected with the same liquid as I did?" Iemitsu asked immediately.

"Yes. I find it strange that neither of us have experience no side effects as of now."

"Well, it seems we're stuck until your friends or Basil's subordinates are done analysing them." The two then stood in silence with nothing to talk about awkwardly until Tsuna brought a matter up.

"Wait, does Kaa-san know about this?"

"Your mother? No, thankfully no. I wanted to ask though why does it look like your Mist guardian is hovering around you?" Iemitsu curiously added.

Tsuna groaned before explaining the insufferable policy made by his friends ever since they found out he sneaked away. Iemitsu tried to be sympathetic with his son but he oddly found it to be amusing.

"Tou-san, don't laugh." Tsuna threatened and Iemitsu covered his beginning laugh with a cough. He then heard Tsuna muttering, "I'm a 24 year old man for goodness sake."

"Kufufu… I doubt that's the problem, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Mukuro said. He had made himself invisible when Nana came and rematerialized himself when she was out of the room.

"Even if my obvious age was not the problem, I still think this is unreasonable. Protective or not, they are stubbornly keeping this till who knows how long. In the first place, why did you make yourself invisible to my mother?"

Mukuro smiled a small grin before replying, "Sawada Nana, an interesting woman. She has an effect to all your friends and my dear Chrome. I was curious how one could have an effect on another. Well, considering she's your mother, I know where you got the effect."

"Huh?" Tsuna blinked not getting what Mukuro was saying. Iemitsu stayed quiet knowing what the illusionist was saying. "In the meantime, don't use any illusions near my mother. She's still oblivious to the mafia and all of us prefer for it that way." Tsuna strongly said. Mukuro gave it a second thought before complying doing it for Chrome's sake. Iemitsu started to talk with Tsuna again when Mukuro swerved his attention towards the other side of the room. The three men felt the shift in the atmosphere. Hibari Kyoya has arrived.

* * *

><p>Shichirou stood over a pile of bodies. Mind you they were not dead, only unconscious. Finding his target was harder than he thought. He had strolled into the battered town as easily as he could, asking those who cared enough to reply before being in the current predicament. The last person he asked led Shichirou to a deserted place before ambushing the Millefiore boss. They were quickly defeated. Shichirou sighed wondering if he ever was going to find the little mouse when a flash of yellow past by his vision. He was certain it was his target thus following before being knocked to the side by a bunch of angry looking men after him.<p>

"Get back here, you rascal!" one shouted.  
>"Thief! Thief!" another yelled.<br>"Somebody, stop him!"

"I'm telling you, it wasn't me!" The boy shouted continuing to run away.

For Shichirou, it was quite troublesome to continue following the boy if there were others also chasing, so without being seen, he deftly kicked some obstacles into the path of the boy's pursuers. The men looked bewildered at the sudden entrance of items before crashing into them. Shouts of cussing could be heard. However, Shichirou was already gone opting to chase after the boy. He found him in a small space served as a hiding spot. The boy was breathing quite heavily. The Millefiore boss waited for the blonde to make sure it was safe to come out before descending behind the boy.

As if by some inkling, the blonde turns, shocked at someone finding his place and prepared to run only for Shichirou to knock him out harmlessy. Not wanting anyone else to come across the boy, Shichirou left the boy at his hiding spot…after injecting him with the clear liquid. The substance hungrily entered his skin. Now that his job was done, he turned to leave when an orange light emitted from the boy. Shichirou sprouted a small smirk deciding to stay with the blonde for a while to see any new developments. Step 1 accomplished, Phase 1 was complete.

* * *

><p>"Kufufu~, looks like the skylark decided to join the party," Mukuro amusedly said.<p>

Irked by the heterochromia, Hibari thrusts forward, tonfas in hand aiming for Mukuro's head only to be stopped by his opponent's own weapon: the trident.

"Hn. Looks like your time in prison didn't do much," Hibari replied. Tonfas pressing against trident; each weapon used by their respective owners trembled by the use of their excessive strength, both ignoring the Sawadas and Reborn.

"Out of all the days, why start now?" Tsuna groaned at the fierce looks directed towards each other of his Cloud and Mist guardians.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn smirked, "since Hibari's here, you're going to spar with him again." Iemitsu could only offer his son his condolences when Reborn added, "Iemitsu, you will also help."

"What! Reborn, I'm no longer involved in the mafia and Nana and I are still enjoying our trip."

"I spoke with Mama before coming here. She said she's going to stay here for a while."

Tsuna went into the lower level of HDWM. "Reborn, you can't be serious. If she stays here, she'll be dragged into our mess."

"They'll be staying at the guest quarters. The 2nd most secure area right after your rooms. I might add that seemingly, as both of you were attacked, Mama wouldn't be safe. The safest she could be right now is here."

Tsuna scowled at Reborn knowing full well if he (Reborn) had his mother agreeing then there was basically nothing he could do. Iemitsu had different thoughts. It was true that he wanted to spend more time with Tsuna; yet he still wants Nana to be safe.

"Iemitsu, if you still worrying about it, I'll have I-pin drop by Italy. In addition, once the stupid cow returns, Mama's attention would be focused on the young ones. Happy?" Reborn asked yet it sounded more like a statement.

"You're bringing I-pin here?" Tsuna baffled at his tutor's way of dragging everyone to Italy.

"What, Dame-Tsuna? A family always sticks together. I even invited the girls-"

"Kyoko and Haru?!"

Reborn shot a bullet towards the brunet who smoothly avoided the bullet. "Who said you could interrupt me? The girls had to decline though, saying they had plans." Tsuna inwardly sighed. "Well, I sent them both plane tickets anyway so they might come or not."

"Reborn, I'll deal with you later. You had no right calling everyone, here. I thought it was up to the boss to decide whether or not his whole family had to be gathered at one place."

Reborn indifferently gazed into Tsuna's angered eyes before saying, "That's correct. I guess you did remember something worthwhile from all my lessons; a small improvement to say the least. If you are the head of this family, you have to take charge. But my suggestion still stands. It would be better for Mama to be here. Sooner or later, your whole family is going to be here."

Iemitsu spoke up before his son could reply back, "Let it be Tsuna. I think Nana wants to pamper you again." He turned towards Reborn, "I think I can teach Tsuna a few things. When do we start?"

Tsuna was completely irritated with his tutor; doing whatever he wants again as soon as he's up, just like the Reborn from his memories. He began to speak when he felt a sharp pain strike through his whole body. Tsuna froze involuntarily before glancing towards his father.

"Did you feel that?" He asked. Iemitsu nodded in response. Reborn curious of the sudden change of attention from his student decided to ask when a stranger thing occurred. Iemitsu was radiating light sky flames from his body. Tsuna was shocked by the sight. 'What's going on?' Something was happening right before his very eyes and he had no idea what was going on and not having his Hyper Intuition made Tsuna restless. Hibari and Mukuro stopped their intense fight as they saw the ex-CEDEF leader trying to keep a smile to reassure his son before ultimately scrunching in pain with a faint hue of flame producing from his body. The flames continued to envelop the entire body.

Recovering himself from the shock, Tsuna ordered, "Mukuro, give a message to Chrome and tell her to stall Kaa-san as much as possible. If Kaa-san asks where my father is, tell her he's just resting. We don't want her to panic." Mukuro though curious agreed choosing to agree in order to know what exactly was going on and disappeared.

"Kyoya, I know I've asked a lot from you ever since the future dilemma but I need you to stay here and tell the others what happened," Tsuna stated. Hibari shifted his gaze to the brunet saying, 'And why should I do that? Do you want to be bitten to death?'

"Damn it, Kyoya. This is not the time for me to explain!" Tsuna snapped at him. The boss was already picking up his father, helping him up. "Just do it. Do you prefer to be crowded later with everyone else asking what happened today or not?"

Hibari glared at the figure of Sawada Tsunayoshi. By using his irritation against him, Tsuna had already guaranteed Hibari's help. "Hn. I'll be expecting a fight once this is over." Tsuna nodded his thanks before sprinting to the infirmary. "Reborn, contact Shoichi and Spanner; ask them if there's any sign of disturbance within a 500m radius of this mansion. Then, tell Shoichi to get his laptop to come to the infirmary." Reborn was already gone by the time Tsuna finished.

The infirmary in sight, Tsuna kicks the doors open and cursed. The doctors were nowhere to be seen. 'Ryohei was always in charge with a few assistants. Where are they?' Tsuna cast aside the thought and put his father on the bed. Ryohei had taught him the basic operations of installing the various hospital machines to the patient. Once done, Tsuna measured Iemitsu's pulse. 'It slowed down.' Glancing at the heart rate monitor, the signals were considerably going back to normal. The ex-CEDEF leader was unconscious by the time Tsuna arrived at the infirmary.

'Thank goodness. Nothing major happen-' His thought was cut off as Tsuna noticed a faint hue of his sky flame producing of his body. 'What in the?' Tsuna trying to stay calm noticed from the corner of his eye that Iemitsu's flame was now going brighter. Tsuna could only notice that little detail before succumbing to wave of pain. 'How could Tou-san stand this?' Tsuna fell to the ground clutching his heart. He couldn't take it. He screamed.

"Tsuna, TSUNA!" Tsuna momentarily opened his eyes.

"Reborn?"

"What's happening? Why is your body covered in flames as well?" Reborn urgently asked.

"Don't know but Reborn, knock me out." Tsuna gasped. "Do it. There's too much… I don't know when… this is…going to finish... so… KNOCK ME OUT NOW!" He shouted the last sentence. Complying with his student's wishes, Reborn knocked his student into the unconsciousness. Tsuna now unconscious was limp beside Reborn. Sky flames were still being released by his body. Reborn saw the same was with Iemitsu. 'What in the world is happening?'

* * *

><p>The blind man glanced upwards towards the sky. "It has begun?"<p>

"Indeed it has." His companion stated.

"Mou~, what was the me in this time thinking?" Another pouted.

"What's done is done. But really, what a burden it must be to be part of the Tri-ni-Sette."

"Like what he said~." The white haired teen said happily.

"Right now, I do believe I'm asking which way is the Vongola Mansion? The little one is already shaking and the others are worried about him."

"Talbot, I know that it is an excuse and not an excuse to say you are blind but this is the wrong way."

Talbot stayed silent. He began to turn and walk the other way. His two other companions followed him. "Even though I said you should have an escort, you never listen to me do you old man?"

"Quiet! I'm as old as you. I help create the Vongola Rings." Talbot countered.

His companion sighed. "It looks like the delivery will be delayed."

"It might possibly well be."

"I want to see Tsunayoshi-kun also!" the young one of the two old friends whined.

"In due time. Your purpose in this world will come but this is not the time."

"Hai, hai. I'll come when you require me. Then, I better go. I'm going to meet Yuni-chan!" He vanished.

"Such an energetic youth!" Talbot chuckled. "I suppose you're going to visit him again?"

"Yes. Well then, Talbot, it was a pleasure to chat with you." He then disappeared.

"Don't give me that crap. Are you little ones alright?" Talbot asked. Faint noises came. "I'll take that as a yes. It shouldn't be long now."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Chapter 5, a day before June! Then does it mean that I don't really have to update for the upcoming month? If only I could. A chapter for all of you waiting patiently, you guys deserved it. I wanted to post this faster but I was really stuck with this. Mainly cause of Hibari. He rarely speaks in my opinion and it was hard. Also, sorry to yaoi fans everywhere for the last chapter. Regarding the girls, I'm going to bring them in for only a special appearance. Only because I want to tease Tsuna about Kyoko. He's really fun to tease. Ah, the Tsuna in my head is not liking the idea. **

**I want to thank the following authors/readers for following/favourite this story:murasaki1997, JJ1117, Assa Hajime, kai . vi . shin . blu (won't let me put the name properly TT-TT) , gore23, Natsu Yuuki, Reibuki Shihaisha and Blukang Blarak (Terima Kasih) - Didn't use google translator for this. I personally know the language. **

**Technically since the IGs are in break cause of UK term break, I could update but it ends in 3 days. Also thanks Yuuki for your review/comment. I appreciate it. Natsuu Yuuki too thanks for cheering me on! I got over 1000 views on this story! Yay! And to grader gore23, thank you! If there's anything wrong in the story please tell me. I also tend to forget writing the disclaimer like in the Special Omake, is it bad that I forgot?**

**P.S: Does anyone know what colour are Giotto's eyes? Across the stories I read it's either blue or orange. And does anyone know of an Italian name? One that fits Tsuna. A minor spoiler but meh, I'm feeling oddly weird today.**


	7. Chapter 6

Enjoy and happy reading!

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

And Flashbacks are well... already and clearly identified.

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR!

* * *

><p>Hibari was purely, pissed off. All the maids and servants who came across the Cloud guardian backtracked the way they came, scurrying in fear. He had to admit, it was clever of the herbivore to use his hatred to abide what he wanted. And it was exactly why it was the particular herbivore that had gained Hibari's interest. Added to the fact of Sawada Tsunayoshi's determined plan to stop Byakuran, the Cloud guardian had come to respect him. No, that came out wrong. He has respected him from a long time ago.<p>

6 hours had passed, and there was still no sign of the other bothersome herbivores coming. Hibari's irritation slowly grew. He had heard the painful scream belonging to that man and he was interested to find out what exactly happened. Then, he heard them.

"Stop moving so much Lambo! I'll heal those cuts for you inside."

"Itaii! Ryo-nii, be a bit gentler."

"Juudaime wouldn't be pleased to see you like this. Get bandage up quickly, Ahou-shi. He'll worry about you again. I'll stall him as long as I can. Hmm…maybe it was too early for you."

"Can you not call me that, Gokudera-shi? I'm older and stronger now. I'm ready."

"Says the cow who panicked and crashed into a tree, crying right after that. Those illusions were appetizers compared to a certain pineapple head."

"Maa, maa, Lambo, all of us worry about you. Tsuna dotes on you too."

The doors to the mansion opened and Hibari saw his fellow comrades –not that he will admit it – fussing at the cow.

"Oh, Hibari, you're here already?" Yamamoto greeted happily. Gokudera glanced at Hibari, surprised to see him still at one place after the space of the room got significantly smaller. Just as he was about to say something, Ryohei interrupted. "Hibari! It's EXTREMELY good to have you here!"

Gokudera scowled at the loudness of his fellow guardian. "Did you have to shout when I'm so near, Shibaku-atama?!"

"Naniii?! I'm only greeting Hibari to the extreme!" Ryohei argued back. Lambo who was being carried on the back of Yamamoto looked over to see that Hibari was still there even though they were already making so much noise. 'Wah~, Gokudera-shi, Ryo-nii, shut up already!' He thought.

Hibari looked towards them, his killing intent concealed so perfectly began to leak. The others in the room shut their mouths hastily. "If you as much make another ounce of noise, I'll bite you all to death. Understood?" The others nodded. "The lead herbivore asked me to pass all of you a message."

'Juudaime did?' Gokudera thought. He signalled to Yamamoto to take Lambo to the infirmary to patch him up when Hibari stopped them. "Don't bother. All of us are going to the infirmary."

Gokudera tried to discern whatever message Hibari was withholding. All the guardians began to walk towards the infirmary. "So, what did Juudaime asked you to say?"

"Something happened to the herbivore's father."

"Iemitsu-san?"

"Hn. I don't have any further details but his entire body was covered in sky flames."

"Oi, you don't think this is like Yuni, do you?" Ryohei asked worriedly.

"I doubt it. The flame energy wasn't as high as Yuni's. Don't bother asking me anymore." Hibari concluded walking in front of them farther as usual. They reached the infirmary where multiple voices were speaking.

"Shoichi, we'll speak of this later in my office." Hibari raised an eyebrow. 'Since when did the herbivore sound fine? A few hours ago he was screaming.' Luckily for the occupants in the room, the last sentence was only heard by Hibari. Gokudera brush passed Hibari and opened the door.

"Juudaime! We heard what happened. Is your father alright?" Gokudera asked.

"Hayato?!" Tsuna startled by his best friend's entrance composed himself before answering, "He's fine. His flame burst suddenly. He's just sleeping. There's nothing wrong with him, right Shoichi?"

"Er… r- right. It was most probably caused by the strain of using his flames suddenly after a long time. Ahaha…" Shoichi nervously laughed, exiting the room as fast as he could and placed a hand on his stomach later on.

Gokudera stared at his boss and at the trail that Shoichi left behind suspiciously. 'What's with the both of them?'

"I'll be going first. Tsuna, finish this up so we can have lunch." Reborn stated, hopping off the bed beside Iemitsu and exiting the door.

"Yeah, tell Kaa-san we'll be there in a few." Tsuna called out to his tutor. Then, he turned to the three figures which were silently creeping at the farthest end of the infirmary. "And why are Onii-san, Lambo and Takeshi sneaking in?" Tsuna asked.

Yamamoto greeted Tsuna cheerfully, hoping the brunet wouldn't see Lambo's state, "Yo, Tsuna! I didn't see you there!"

"Takeshi, I was here the whole time. Is that…Lambo on your back?! What happened?" Tsuna asked half hoping it would distract the others while the other half wished nothing bad happened.

"Calm down, Juudaime." Gokudera said, distracted by the current situation. He then began re-telling what had occurred. Tsuna was pleased to hear nothing serious happened. He then muttered, "Maybe it is too early for Lambo to do this."

"Not you too, Vongola," Lambo cried in exasperation while he was being patched up by Ryohei. Yamamoto then told the confused Tsuna that Gokudera said the same thing. After the recount, all of them teased Lambo about being the baby of Tsuna's family earning a 'I'll tell Mama about this' look and a pout from the child. Tsuna laughed along with his friends and was going to exit the room after Lambo was treated when he noticed Hibari at the corner.

"Hibari, aren't you coming?" Tsuna asked. The others were standing a few metres away, not wanting to face the wrath of the ex-prefect of Nami-chuu. Hibari walked towards Tsuna and whispered something so quickly Tsuna had to process it a while and then said aloud, "Call me by my first name again, herbivore and I'll make sure you won't be out of your office. And be prepared to be bitten to death." He smirked before going on his way. The others parted like the sea and pitied their boss. Tsuna immobilized, paled immediately. 'It's not my fault that I say your first name when I'm in HDWM!'

"Tsuna, you okay?" Yamamoto asked. Tsuna blinked himself out of his state before continuing towards the dining room with his friends, tuning into their conversation every now and then. A frown formed on his face that went unnoticed to some. Tsuna oblivious to the fact found himself thinking to what Hibari had whispered.

"_Something is wrong with you, Sawada Tsunayoshi. You and the red headed herbivore know something and I intend to find out."_

* * *

><p>Nevertheless, it wasn't long till Tsuna was confronted. Though it wasn't Hibari, it was his two closest friends: Gokudera and Yamamoto. After a day of keeping his mother occupied, Tsuna retreated back to his office to find the amount of paperwork tripled. 'Damn that Hibari. I already have bruises thanks from him earlier and he still manages to destroy something. But when…'<p>

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," Tsuna answered.

Yamamoto and Gokudera entered, a smile on the former's face and expressionless on the latter.

"Hayato, Takeshi what are you still doing up?" Tsuna questioned. "It's quite late already and both of you must be tired after coming back."

"We just wanted to see how you're doing Tsuna." Yamamoto replied. "And here are the files."

Tsuna's boss demeanour cracked at the mention of more work. He accepted the files from Yamamoto and placed them on his desk, planning to look at it later. He stood in front of his friends, arms crossed, eyebrows rising.

"Well, even without my Hyper Intuition, I can guess this isn't just a normal visit. What's on your minds?" Tsuna asked.

"Juudaime, are you alright?" Gokudera stared straight into Tsuna's eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"We saw the troubled look on your face this afternoon and-" Yamamoto continued only to be interrupted by Tsuna.

"Ah that. It's nothing. I was just worried about how Tou-san's doing." Tsuna quickly explained with a lie. His friends looked sceptical at the reason though with a few seconds both accepted it.

"I see. Well then, we're sorry for taking up your time, Juudaime."

"It's fine." Tsuna waved it off, expecting the two to leave. He glanced at the clock noticing it was half past 11. 'Shoichi's going to be here any minute.'

"Actually Tsuna, Gokudera and I thought we could help you with your work." Yamamoto offered.

Tsuna was indeed thrilled to have help but a reprimand from his mind told him that today he would have to decline. And with that he made another lie on the spot, "As much as I would really, **really** like your help, I think it's better if both of you get some rest. I know how tired you are after the mission and by helping Lambo, you need rest. Now, go to sleep."

"But Juudaime-" Gokudera protested.

"Hayato, go. Takeshi, you too. I won't stay up all night. I'll finish a few today and do the rest tomorrow." Tsuna sternly said with his eyes turning to a light orange golden hue. Gokudera and Yamamoto reluctantly agreed more on the former. They exited after making sure their friend was going to stick to his word.

Soon after they left, another knock was on the door. Tsuna himself personally opened the door and let the nervous man in. Irie Shoichi entered the room with his laptop tucked underneath his arm followed by Reborn. With his reflexes back, Tsuna efficiently locked his door. Reborn as usual managed to find space to sit on Tsuna's paper filled desk .Tsuna turned to Shoichi who was biting down on his lip. "Did you bring it?"

"Yes, Tsunayoshi-kun. But, I did warn you in the infirmary, we need more time and observations on your flames."

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

"_Reborn-san! I came as soon as possible. Where is- w-what's happening to Tsunayoshi-kun?!" Shoichi shocked at seeing the brunet emitting sky flames with the same situation applied to Iemitsu._

"_I'm not entirely sure. Irie help me carry Tsuna onto the other bed." Shoichi complied noting along the way that the flames produced were not harming either of them. He placed his boss carefully before noting down all the events happening before his eyes into his laptop. Shoichi recorded the disharges of flames made by the two unconscious parties. As a few hours passed by, he continued to take notes. A theory forming his mind as the two flame energy became seemingly more similar. All of a sudden, the flames began to die out from Iemitsu and then Tsuna._

'_What is happening here?' He thought. Shoichi glanced towards the Sun arcbaleno noticing the frown present on his face. 'It looks like Reborn-san has no clue also.' Shoichi continued to input data onto his laptop until a groan was heard by both occupants. Tsuna opened his eyes, blinking at the harsh light, muttering a chain of annoyances before sitting upright. He clutched his head briefly and noticed Shoichi in the room._

"_Tsunayoshi-kun, are you alright?!" Shoichi asked. Reborn meanwhile felt the forehead of his student, noting it was a bit cold._

"_Fine, what about Tou-san?" Tsuna asked resignedly._

"_His pulse is stable though he lost a lot of flames due to the high release. He won't wake up anytime soon. The same could be said for you, Tsunayoshi-kun. Although, the discharge wasn't as high as Iemitsu-san's, it is a lot. More importantly, what are you feeling right now?"_

"_Ugh. It's like after the first time I went into HDWM; maybe a bit more. I'm kinda exhausted right now. Did you find anyone outside the mansion?" _

"_No. We tried locating them by their flames but nothing has shown up. So we switch to infra-red sensors. It will take a while."_

_Reborn removed his hand from Tsuna's forehead and asked, "Oi, Tsuna, are you feeling hot or cold?"_

_His student looked weirdly at him before answering, "Hot. Why?" Reborn frowned at the answer. 'I know he's not lying. But how can he feel hot if he's body this cold? The release of flames must have done something.' "Hmm. Go rest for a bit more, Dame-Tsuna. It looks like whatever happened trigger some sort of reaction."_

"_I'm alright, Reborn. Shoichi do you have any theories?" Tsuna ignored his tutor's statement earning a look from his teacher._

"_Not exactly since this has never happen before unless you count the only plausible reason of not being able to control your flames. However, since all of us know this is highly unlikely for the two of you, another would be a late side effect to the bullet Tsunayoshi-kun sustained but that wouldn't apply to Iemitsu-san."_

"_So… we have no clue of what's actually happening?"_

"_At the moment, no, however, I noticed something odd when both were releasing their flames. Though, I'm not sure if I'm just hallucinating or not." Before Shoichi could continue pointing out the holes in his new found discovery, Tsuna cut him off._

"_Shoichi, not that I want to hear you ramble off like Hayato when he's troubled but whatever you have right now, whether it is accepted or not, it is up to me to decide." Tsuna gave him an encouraging smile._

_Shoichi felt his anxiety disappeared before continuing, "At one point when I was on keeping an eye of the two of you, your flames were similar to one another."_

"_What?"_

"_It's like this Tsunayoshi-kun. Your flames and your father's were acting like each other. The movement and the amount of discharge were the same for an amount of time."_

"_Basically, what you're saying is that both our flames were in sync with each other. Like a mirror?"_

"_Yes, but it only did happen for a short time. If Spanner was here, he would have been able to decipher more. Moreover, since Iemitsu-san and you are related by blood, this phenomenon might have just been a trait blood related share."_

"_You two are forgetting something." Reborn spoke up after being quiet for a while._

"_And what is it?" Tsuna asked._

"_There is something common in both of you. Don't you remember Dame-Tsuna?"_

"_Ah! The liquid Tsunayoshi-kun got infected with!" Shoichi exclaimed._

"_Honestly, looks like you still need tutoring, Tsuna. That event happened during this month and you managed to put it aside even if Gokudera did warn you about them."_

"_Shut up, Reborn. If you didn't notice I was being haunted by my guardians these last few days."_

"_Anyway, Reborn-san might be right, Tsunayoshi-kun. Even though you've tasked me with finding out the properties, it's taking more time than I expected. The formula is a lot more complicated. Even if I'm not sure what it will do to your system, this has to be the most logical explanation."_

"…_I'll think about it. In the meantime, keep your mind open for any other theories." Tsuna replied._

"_Should we tell the others about this also?" Shoichi questioned._

"_No. I know I made a promise to let them know but if this does turn out to be a one-time thing then it will just cause them to worry about nothing. Besides Shoichi, maybe the case between my father and me was just coincidental."_

"_It is possible. But Tsunayoshi-kun, I still believe we should let the others know. It will make it easier for you."_

"_I agree with Irie, Tsuna. Don't put all the burdens on yourself." Reborn said._

"_For the last time, no I won't change my mind. If you still think so, then when I'm absolutely sure my life's in danger then I'll them. It's settled. Shoichi we'll speak of this later in my office."_

_FLASHBACK END_

* * *

><p>Tsuna's eyes had a faraway look and Reborn just sighed. 'Trust him to go down into memory lane at a time like this.'<p>

He stood up and promptly hit his student with the Leon hammer. A loud shout echoed in the room with Shoichi wincing, Tsuna glaring and Reborn smirking.

"I hate you…" Tsuna muttered.

"What was that?" Reborn asked.

Tsuna rubbed his head and grumbled a few more times, "Anyway, Shoichi, did anyone come up on the scanner?"

"No, I'm sorry Tsunayoshi-kun. I confirmed with Spanner and there was absolutely no one present in the radius of the mansion."

"Then did you at least discuss with Spanner about our flame energy?"

"Yes, I didn't tell him it was concerning you. He may have thought the data I gave was another a new project of mind. He said the flame was practically the same though with a few minor details such as your flame signature."

"…I see. Though, it's most likely that Spanner knows it's me. He won't ask until we tell him. Arigato, Shoichi. Keep me on update if anything new shows up and give me a simple report on the strange thing between Tou-san and I."

"Hai, Tsunayoshi-kun. I'll have one ready by tomorrow. May I be excused?"

"Of course. Goodnight, Shoichi and take care."

Shoichi pardoned himself from the room leaving Tsuna with Reborn. Tsuna sighed before settling onto his chair and began to read through the amount of paperwork courtesy of Hibari. 'Next time I'll install a PA system. Better to tell Shoichi rather than have Hibari annoy me in the worst way possible.' Tsuna kept reading and signing and stopped when Reborn was still in the room.

"Reborn, what are you still doing here?" he asked.

"Tsuna, be careful." Reborn answered.

"Aren't I always?"

"I mean it Dame-Tsuna. Even though Byakuran's gone, something's not right. Maybe you should ask one of your guardians to watch over the Millefiore family."

At the mention of the Millefiore family, Tsuna's light demeanour changed. "Reborn… Hayato has warned me and I'm not disregarding the fact that they may be involved but so far there is no evidence. I know that if I make a statement of taking all of them into custody, there will be bloodshed Reborn. The mafia world is a cruel place. Most will want revenge; others just for the pleasure of killing. Those involved won't care because the Millefiore did damage the pride of most famiglias. The day I took on the role as Vongola Decimo, I swore to protect those dear to me. I don't want to be hasty. Killing for me is a final resort. I don't want a mistake of **that** happening again."

Reborn stayed silent knowing what had happened, and then spoke. "It wasn't your fault."

Tsuna chuckled grimly. "It inevitably would, even if the person who did the killing wasn't me."

"Heh, I guess that one part of you hasn't changed: blaming yourself."

"And nothing would change my mind. I'll sign a few more before turning up for the night. Reborn you should-" The moment Tsuna turned around to face his tutor, Reborn was gone.

"I should say the same to you: Same old Reborn." Tsuna settled back to his desk and started working.

* * *

><p>A lone figure leaned against the wall, his ears listening to the conversation taken place in the boss' office.<p>

"Have you heard all you need to?" Reborn asked a few halls down from Tsuna's office.

"Hn. He's not wary enough."

"So it caught your attention, too? As expected of Vongola's strongest guardian. Though I was mildly amused to see you have a tiny Hibird attached with a listening device in Tsuna's office." The bird in question flew from atop Leon to Hibari.

"I expect you won't tell the herbivore?" Hibari asked.

"Unless his hyper intuition comes back as normal and suspects his office was temporarily breached, then no."

"Good." Hibari then walked away leaving Reborn's sight. He then took out his cell phone and called.

"Kyo-san?" Hibari's second in command, Kusakabe Tetsuya, was in charge of the Foundation till he return. "Is there something wrong?"

"Tetsu, I need you to keep track of Millefiore members and their activity over the past month and keep recording."

Kusakabe knowing well enough not to question whatever was asked replied, "Hai, Kyo-san, I'll send the data as soon as possible. Does this mean you won't return as you've planned?"

"Hn. Take care of Foundation, Tetsu. I expect no disturbances in Namimori when I get back." Hibari ended the call, heading towards his room.

* * *

><p>"Welcome back, Tsunayoshi-kun. It took you awhile to go to sleep."<p>

Tsuna looked towards the spot where the voice seemed to be but saw nothing. 'Not showing up even though I know who he is.' "I had a lot of work."

"Of course you did. The others have no knowledge about us?"

"No. Even if I hate keeping secrets from them, you are still ambiguous on the whole picture." To which Tsuna sensed the figure shrugged his shoulders.

"I did tell you there were conditions. Thankfully the memory seal took less time to undo unlike the last time. How is your astral mind feeling?"

"Not pleasant. It's getting easier to sort out the old memories but the recently blocked ones take a few minutes for me to make sense."

"Interesting…" He muttered. "Any more headaches?"

"Mild ones. I'm getting used to the pain."

"Hmm… Then, Tsunayoshi-kun, do you remember what we last talked about?"

"You mean the Sky barrier? …It's proving to be difficult."

"It is originally made by the skies of the Tri-ni-Sette. No one could break in unless you are one of the skies of the Tri-ni-Sette of course. Having only one sky to sustain it is almost impossible."

"But…," Tsuna then concentrated and released his flames from his hands creating a small sphere of sky flames no larger than his fist. It continued for a few minutes before shattering completely. He sighed disappointedly, "I've managed to figure how to shape the flames however the source of sustaining the barrier is much more complicated then I'd expect."

Tsuna's guest chuckled, amused by the sudden show of effort by the brunet. "I didn't expect to see a tiny Sky barrier working already."

Tsuna befuddled by his acquaintance's knowledge of the inner workings of the barrier, suspiciously questioned him, "You know how to make one don't you?"

"No, that is wrong, Tsunayoshi-kun. I cannot make one but I know the fundamentals of one."

"Hah?"

"What you're trying to make is a Sky barrier with the requirements of the three skies of the Tri-ni-Sette. Try to make that tiny barrier big."

Tsuna not seeing the point did what his companion asked and sure enough the barrier was made. He expanded the sphere slowly until it shattered. "What just happened?"

"You see, Tsunayosho-kun, that's what I was trying to explain to you. One sky isn't enough to sustain a Tri-ni-Sette sky barrier."

"Then what I did was useless?"

"Not entirely." Tsuna glared at his mind's occupant to hurry up with the explanation. "Imagine the barrier to be a triangle. Then take away the two corners and what do you get?"

"A lone corner."

"Exactly, so the necessity of the Tri-ni-Sette barrier is it needs to have all three. You on the other hand, don't."

Tsuna understood the concept and the solution came light. "It means that I have to create my personal barrier with my own rules."

"Correct. I would also tell you that once the barrier is formed, the energy that is given to it, will sustain it unless you, less per say, goes unconscious."

"…Alright. I get it. Would this barrier hold off Reborn?"

"In retrospect, it should. Your barrier would still have the fundamentals of a Tri-ni-Sette sky barrier however only the structure and energy supplying it is different."

"…Well, I should owe you my thanks. At least something useful comes out from speaking with you. Usually, our conversation on the future stops when you practically refuse to tell me anything. If this is the case then why, are you here? I know that you're an ally but why give me advice when you can straightaway tell me the whole thing. The memory seal won't allow me to remember anyways." Tsuna asked after various meetings.

His other occupant however stayed quiet.

Tsuna annoyed at his acquaintance for being so silent then understood the point of the present visit. "What I'm doing has something to do with Yuni's vision, doesn't it?"

"More or less."

"So it has already started?"

"Possibly." Tsuna sighed at the vague answers his acquaintance gave. "On a side note, you will retain hindsight on how to perfect the barrier."

"But the conversation will be sealed, right?" Tsuna asked.

"Right again. My work here is done; till we meet again, Tsunayoshi-kun."

* * *

><p>Tsuna woke up with a start, his head pounding again; his hands automatically opening the drawer and getting the aspirin from the bottle. Once he digested the pills, he realised he had slept in his office for the third time that week and immediately sobered. 'Hayato's going to scold me.'<p>

And soon enough, very loud stomping could be heard outside the door, though it stopped once in order for the said person to knock.

With sleepiness still clinging to Tsuna, he answered with tiredness, "Come in."

The door opened with a bang making Tsuna cringed. Gokudera accompanied by Lambo and Yamamoto strolled into the room.

"Juudaime…"

"Hayato, Takeshi, Lambo, good morning."

"What are you talking about Tsuna? It's the afternoon!" Takeshi replied cheerfully oblivious to the rage emitting from the Storm guardian.

"It is?" Tsuna glanced at the clock surprised to see it was already half past 2.

"Don't tell us; you were all night working again, Vongola?" Lambo asked.

Tsuna in return gave a weak laugh, his headache forgotten in turn of the current situation and waited for the lecture to come from Gokudera.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So technically it took a few months to produce this. A bit shorter as C6 was the hardest so far. I got stuck literally and had to delete, write, delete and re-write again the second half of the chapter. Since you guys have read this chapter and reading the A/N, what originally should/could have happened was a direct confrontation between Tsuna and Hibari. Plus Iemitsu waking up and being all lovey dovey. (Ew. No offence.)And another person who would know what had happened to Tsuna.**

**Just to clarify, Hibari does not technically know what is going on with Tsuna. Based on what he has eavesdropped, I can roughly say he understands that something happened to Tsuna's flame. Sorry for any out of behavior for the characters. Chapter 7 is underway as I have a more concrete idea on what's happening.**

**Things have become busy again. School has started and it has practically short circuited my brain. My physics teacher said it's good to have the front part of our brain thinking a lot but what he didn't mention that doing a lot of thinking can melt your brain into jelly. Till next time and thanks for the support! :D**


	8. Chapter 7

**Enjoy! ^^**

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

**Disclaimer: KHR does not belong to me. Some scenes in this chapter were inspired by the manga.**

* * *

><p>"And why are we doing this exactly?" Tsuna asked Reborn who was standing beside the man formerly known as 'Young Lion of Vongola,' Sawada Iemitsu.<p>

"Ever since you've woken up, Tsuna, something's wrong with your Hyper Intuition," Reborn stated firmly.

"Is it really that obvious?" Tsuna sarcastically replied. Reborn narrowed his eyes towards his student while Iemitsu was occupying himself by humming a small tune.

It was no secret that Tsuna's current condition was known to everyone. Hence explaining the increase of assassination attempts on his life which he found was a pain in his side. Since the downfall of the Millefiore family, the mafia world has been recovering. It was known that Vongola would be reinstated as the strongest and feared famiglia again.

However, some, tired of Vongola ruling over them decided to take the chance of permanently shutting down Vongola by taking out its 10th boss who was still recuperating after the whole Millefiore fiasco. They figured with most Vongola members licking their wounds, Vongola Decimo would be an easy picking. This course of action actually benefitted Reborn for once. With skilled assassins after his life, Tsuna improved the state of his body to be better than ever with the exception of his HI which explains why Reborn is annoyed at Tsuna.

When Tsuna escaped from the mansion once to cool off from the result of stress from his friends constantly hovering around him, he was shot by an unknown subordinate who had unknowingly wander into Vongola territory in hopes of actually taking out Decimo. Needless to say, Tsuna couldn't dodge all of the bullets due to the lack of HI and one cleanly shot through his arm, causing pandemonium within his family. The unlucky subordinate suffered punishments directly from Hibari claiming he was releasing his frustrations on not being able to go back to Namimori and Mukuro who only wanted entertainment.

Tsuna took advantage of the situation and declared that in order for this to not happen again, his friends were to lift the probation upon Tsuna. All readily agree in the case of not wanting Tsuna to disappear from their sights again.

"Yes. And don't use sarcasm with me, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn said with a tone of finality. He was not in the best mood. "You could have died, in reality. And I've noticed you have almost been able to pick on Hibari's way of fighting. If this was by your HI, I wouldn't mind but there's also the reason of when your strongest training partner fights you every day of your life. So, it's time for a change of partners."

Tsuna sceptically look at Reborn then his father. Tsuna in certain means wouldn't underestimate his father much, still he had to ask.

"Are you sure you're up to this Tou-san?"

"Don't worry about your old dad, Tsuna. Even if your arm has healed with the help of your Sun guardian, you only had two days of rest. Let's have a friendly match." Iemitsu grinned idiotically at his son who in turn grew a bit worried.

Reborn made Tsuna and Iemitsu step a few metres away from each other. Tsuna removed his jacket placing it near Reborn.

"Don't underestimate him, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn said.

"I won't." Reborn looked on silently.

"Ready?" Tsuna called out. Iemitsu still in a happy mood nodded.

The second the ok signal was given out, Tsuna jumped into HDWM and zoomed towards his father like a bullet. He stroke out a kick aiming to hit the stomach. 'One hit and it'll be over.'

…But it wasn't. His kick in motion was caught like a predator being aware that his prey was much more fearsome. Iemitsu had caught Tsuna's leg and with swift kick of his own, slam Tsuna across the other side of the room. The impact made Tsuna cough out in shock. 'W-what just happened?!'

He momentarily clutched his chest feeling the pain lingering behind, coughing. Iemitsu, not a single scratch on him walked towards Tsuna slowly.

"What's the matter, Tsuna? Is that all you got?"

Tsuna forced himself to look at his father's face, surprise at the sudden change of focus. Iemitsu was not the person he knew goofing off. His eyes held no sympathy and his face was one of no mercy.

'Focus Tsuna. It's just Tou-san.' Tsuna controlled his breathing again and without a moment's hesitation charged towards Iemitsu albeit more warily. Iemitsu too shot towards Tsuna. When they were about one metre away, Tsuna jumped up and prepared to knock his father on the head. However, Iemitsu quick enough to notice, grabbed his son's arm and smash Tsuna to the floor. Tsuna made it intime to bear the impact with his sweep his feet under Iemitsu causing his father to go down. Tsuna then stepped a few feet away sweating.

'I can't be too careful. Even if I read reports about Tou-san, this is more than what I thought.'

"Really, Tsuna? Backing down when I was at your feet. " Iemitsu said, picking himself up . "It looks like you're still weak."

Tsuna ignored the taunts his father was throwing at his face. Iemitsu seeing no change on Tsuna's face, gave up on his tactic and changed strategy. He propelled himself forward launching a punch towards Tsuna. Tsuna dodged it and countered one of his own. Blows exchanged, Tsuna noted he was getting more hit than dodging while Iemitsu managed to block half of his attacks.

"What are you doing, Dame-Tsuna?"

'Reborn?' Tsuna widened his eyes a fraction, cursing himself for being distracted even momentarily enabling Iemitsu to punch his face.

"That won't do Tsuna. Getting lost in your thoughts." Iemitsu said as Tsuna stepped back a few metres away from his father.

However, Tsuna wasn't paying attention to what his father was saying, rather he was listening to certain tutor who had snuck a mini communicator on his collar.

"I said, what are you doing?" Reborn repeated.

"Reborn? But how? When? Nevermind. What are you saying?" Tsuna asked.

"Are you that shocked about Iemitsu's abilities?"

"No."

"Stop lying, Dame-Tsuna."

"Then, what do you expect?! Even if he's my father, I never-"

"Accept it. Stop shaking. Is your confidence in yourself easily shattered? This isn't the first time you faced a stronger opponent." Tsuna looked down towards his hads to find that they were shaking slightly. "There's nothing wrong with fear. You have overcome it before when you faced Mukuro, Xanxus and Byakuran. What did you wished the most when your past self came here in your stead to finish what you started?"

"…To protect all that I hold dear." Reborn standing in thedistance, had a small smile on his face.

"That's right. Where did that resolution go, Tsuna? If Iemitsu was your enemy right now, what would you do?"

Reborn left Tsuna to his thoughts. 'That's right. What did happened? Why am I thinking like everything's how it used to be? Should have known Reborn saw right through me about Tou-san. Even though I have forgiven him, doesn't mean the resentment's away. And seeing him other than his other self, really put a shock right through me.' Tsuna grin wryly .

Iemitsu stared at his son knowing what Reborn had just done. A lesson, Reborn had told Iemitsu. Seeing enough time was wasted he shouted, "Now, are you going to beat your Tou-san or do I have to beat you?"

Tsuna with newfound determination, his eyes glowing with a goal replied, "I'll like to see you try."

Iemitsu and Tsuna battled each other with both getting scrapped up in the process. Tsuna then felt his senses getting more attuned to the fight anticipating a blow or two. 'It looks like he's right again.'

* * *

><p>"Hope I'm not disturbing, Tsuna! But I'm back and here's the latest report." Yamamoto cheerfully said as he entered Tsuna's office disturbing the person in the room.<p>

"What have I told you, Yakyuu-baka? Knock first before entering Juudaime's office."

"Ahaha~, isn't it fine Gokudera." Yamamoto look around the room only to see it was the Storm guardian present, organising the paperwork on Tsuna's desk. "Tsuna's not here?"

"No. Juudainme's training with Iemitsu-san." Gokudera lifted his face revealing a pair of glasses nesting on the bridge of his nose.

"Heh... Oh, you look different with your glasses on. Has Tsuna told you that?"

"He did." Gokudera replied quickly with an air of embarrasment. "Anyway, how was your visit to the Tomaso family?"

"It was fun! I met Mochida-sempai and he looks well. He's staying with them till they're back on track."

Gokudera, who was scanning a report, scoffed, saying, "The trip wasn't supposed to be fun, idiot. Anything else?"

"Yeah. I didn't know how to explain it but it's all mentioned in here." Gokudera stopped reading and gestured for Yamamamoto to give the file. He looked through it, frowning as he read. "So, even they got casualties. It looks like we can't delay it any longer. What time is it?"

"Almost 2. Why?"

"Juudaime finishes at 2:15 and you should know how he is with time."

"Ahaha~ I do. I rember once Tsuna was really focused onto finishing his work, he didn't even sleep."

Gokudera brought the folder he was holding and also Yamamoto's report and headed towards the training room… with Yamamoto close behind. "And, what else did you want to talk about?"

Yamamoto gave his friend a sheepish smile before saying,"I didn't really noticed but, no one remembers what actually happened." When the Storm guardian gave no inclination of interrupting, he continued, "I told Mochida-sempai about the big battle, he stared and asked what I was talking about. ..Does Tsuna know about it?"

The Storm guardian sighed before replying, "Juudaime didn't want to alert anyone but it looks like only those that were invovlved at Namimori forest had their memories altered. The rest who either died or were not directly invovled only has a vague notion that Vongola stopped Millefiore's tyranny. The Ninth had knowledge about it since Reborn reported the whole ordeal to him."

"How did you know about it then?"

"Baka, how could I not? I was there when Juudaime was theorising it. He sent me on a mission to see if our allied familias had any recollection of the altered timeline."

The two men walked in silence after their discussion when a loud explosion echoed near them. "That must be Juudaime."Gokudera concluded, hastening his pace with Yamamoto on his heels. Even if it was just training, it didn't stop the two from worrying. As soon as the door was in sight, both opened the door only to stop in astonishment. There, right before their eyes were Tsuna and Iemitsu, a few centimetres ffrom each other, arms pulled back for what looked like the preparation of a final blow which should have hit either but both were stilled…like frozen in time.

"Juudaime?"  
>"Tsuna?"<p>

Hearing his name, Tsuna suddenly turn, eyes widening at the intrusion which both took notice there was something else in his eyes: pain. Tsuna forced himself to face his father and punched him directly on the face. Iemitsu went down. Both were breathing heavily.

"Out," came the order barely audible.

"What?" Yamamoto asked.

"Juudaime?"

"Now." Still not able to comprehend what just happened and worry for their boss made both took a step when Tsuna turned towards them, his voice boomed full with authority, "OUT, NOW!"

Gokudera and Yamamoto shocked at the intensity of Tsuna'sHDWM, and with a bit of fear at the sound of his voice, backtracked their way to the office.

"You too,Reborn." Tsuna commanded with fatigue lacing onto the ends of his voice.

"What are you up to, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna gritted his teeth and replied, "Nothing and stop testing me. I just want to have a talk with my father."

Reborn, curious at the sudden change, left the room knowing well enough Tsuna had destroyed the mini-receiver placed underneath Tsuna's collar and was tempted to bug the room though refrained due to his student's gaze never leaving him until the door closed.

Tsuna finally relieved no one was going to disturb him, drop down to the floor sitting sluggishly after he helped his father sat up.

"You okay, Tou-san?" Tsuna whispered and then gestured with his mouth, 'Don't talk so loud. I'm not taking the chance Reborn could be listening through other means.'

Iemitsu nodded in response and asked, "I'm fine. How about you?"

Tsuna smiled wryly, "I'll manage. What about your arm?"

"I'll be lying if I said yes. But you're also feeling it. Am I right?"

"I got found out." Tsuna dryly smiled. "Experiencing the pain of a broken arm except-"

"-the arm isn't actually broken. " Both Sawadas flexed their arms, wincing every now and then at the shoot of pain but confirming nothing serious happened until blood dripped out from Tsuna's left arm.

"Tsuna!"

"This? My wound must have reopened. It's nothing to what's happening now. I'm sorry for punching you a bit harder than I would have liked when the others came, Tou-san."

"It's alright, isn't it? I'm your Otou-san, Tsuna. I can handle more than your mighty punch." Iemitsu grinned wildly earning a laugh from the Don who began to relax. His father then turned serious, "Still what caused it? And Tsuna, I know I'm not much invovled in the mafia nowadays, but an update or two would be nice."

"I was planning on briefing you later after dinner but I guess I'll tell you now." And Tsuna did, explaining the theories Irie had reassuring that nothing was wrong with his father's flames. Though, he witheld the information of how their flames were syncronising with each other. There was no need to raise false alarms when it only happened once.

"And, what are you planning on doing now?" Iemitsu asked once Tsuna was done.

Bewildered at the directness of the question, he replied with one of his own, "What do you mean?"

"Tsuna, even if I'm retired, I'm not out of my league yet. You're not telling me everything."

"I guess I'm still not up to your level."

"Of course, you aren't!" Iemitsu replied playfully, "It'll take you years to finally catch up to me. Don't underestimate the Vongola Intuition running in my blood too. Though," Iemitsu paused shifting his arm a bit, "I wouldn't say that you have surpassed me when I was your age."

His son blinked at the sudden confession of Iemitsu's younger days being revealed which was never mentioned till now and said, "I guess that's a start." He sheepishly ended it with a smile and then realised that an hour had passed. Tsuna move his arm back and forth, only to find it was back to normal. "It's back to normal. How about yours, Tou-san?"

Iemitsu winced and let his arm fall listlessly to his side. "Still the same."

"Then we have to get you to Onii-san. He'll be able to tell what's wrong."

When Ryohei saw the state the Sawada men were in, he frowned at them and immediately healed the older Sawada much to his protest of Tsuna should be the one to be healed first.

"In all case, Iemitsu-san, I would do that but since Sawada's my boss, I can't refuse his order…especially when he's in the other mode." Ryohei mumbled the last part. Tsuna being in HDWM was a tough nut to crack. Stubborness, a Sawada family trait.

"I don't see anything wrong in your arm. Instead, I'll try to heal your nerves. It's probably those that had been damage and sending wrong signals to your brain." Ryohei concluded and changing the place of healing to Iemitsu's head. Slowly, the pain receeded and Iemitsu was finally able to move his arm again.

"Strange…"

"What is it Ryohei?" Tsuna asked.

"I was about to heal the nerves but they're as normal as they can be. It's probably that they were damage temporarily. He should be fine. Now, get over here, so I could wrap some bandages around that arm of yours."

"He's right with the Sun's rapid regeneration factor, there should be a limit to how much it can heal." Iemitsu added.

Tsuna complied letting Ryohei wrap his arm. "Still, Sawada, I can't believe you manage to re-open the wound again! You're taking your training too extreme!" Ryohei's voice growing.

"I thought you like it when training goes extreme?" Tsuna asked his Sun guardian.

"This and that are different. It's done. Now rest properly or I'll extremely come by your office to check on you everyday!"

With that last shout concluding Tsuna's training for the day, he went back to his office and found Gokudera and Yamamoto inside, both going through reports. Tsuna cleared his thrat gaining the attention of his two friends.

"Hayato, Takeshi, about before-"

"Juudaime,here."

Tsuna blinked twice at the sudden interruption caused by his Storm guardian, knowing full well Gokudera wouldn't interrupt him till something was really wrong. He looked at the object pushed towards him.

"It's the report Yamamoto handed in today. You should look at it."

Tsuna took the file, opening it and reading carefully. He walked towards his desk, stopping mid-stride without looking up and said, "I still want to apologize for the way I acted towards the two of you before. I had no right reason to bluntly shout at you."

Gokudera and Yamamoto looked towards ech other where the latter answered the brunet.

"Tsuna, it's fine. We understand. Reborn told us the reason why you snap like that. Family issues."

With his back towards them, Tsuna was glad they couldn't see his face. 'Reborn lied? No, he's done it plenty of times. The question is what did he lie for?'

Tsuna pushed the though away and focused on the folder, sat on his chair and muttered a curse under his breath.

"Hayato, you know what to do."

Gokudera briefly nodded before setting out the task of preparing for all the mafia families gathering.

* * *

><p>Talbot walked on along the path, stopping for a minute or two before continuing on. "Not long now. Is the little one up?" A stronger growl answered. Talbot smiled. "Now, whatever happens don't reveal yourself. No matter what."<p>

* * *

><p>"Ah…that was surprising. " Shichirou said as he was greeted by the familiar sight of the laboratory. "Did my trip take to long?"<p>

"No, boss," one of the scientists answered back. "It took about 3 days until we heard any response."

"I only spend a day in the past though. No matter, time will synchronised when…speaking of which have you located where that maker is?"

"Yes, he's about a day from the Vongola Mansion."

"Alright."

"Shichirou-san."

"What is it?"

"There was a fluctuation with the storage capacity of the seven flames. While you were back in the past, the storm flame has decreased dramatically. We need at least this much to sustain for a few more trips." He gestured to Shichirou to the tank at least about one and half meter tall.

"And what about the other flames?"

"If it occurs to the rest, the capacity needed would be the same."

"…" Shichirou laughed at the sudden turn in his plans. "I didn't quite imagine this to go so smoothly. I'll find a way. I presume, you have a way to store flames that are emitted from a person?"

"It's being tested. It would take an estimation of the day after tomorrow. Would that suffice?"

"Yes. If, you'll excuse me, I have to tie the final link."

Shichirou then exited the lab leaving his scientists to wonder what he did do in the past as much as their curiousity would allow them no to be damper with their fear of him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ** **First and foremost, I'm going to thank the following for favouriting/following this story : 2Kay7, aoiharumiyu, thevelvetkey, happytth, Mirai Haruka, eichanzin1502 and guikat. I hope there's no name I missed.**

**So..*cough* I didn't update for 3 months or more? Sorry times as much as you all think I should do. By the time I think I'll be like Tsuna... =3= Anyway, this was kinda a filler and the villain is back hence why is quite short. I hope you guys won't mind. But for me, this chapter was important as the manga explored the tense relationship between Tsuna and Iemitsu and since this is placed right after the future arc, that fight didn't happen till now. My first time for a fight scene... Hope it's alright. I know it's not as good as I hoped. By next chapter, I'm going to speed the plot up. So here's a preview and in no way will I tell when it's going to occur or the following might change.**

"Who are you? What did you do to Talbot?" Tsuna asked, fists curled up and tensed.

"It's pleasure to finally meet you Decimo." The cloaked stranger replied. "I didn't do anything to the old man. He's only sleeping."

"Are you with the Millefiore?"

"I'm not with it."

Tsuna felt his intuition spiked. His Hyper Intuition was a strange phenomenon. It was coming and going as it pleased. "What did you take from him?"

Tsuna felt the stranger give him a sly grin. "You don't know? According to what was announced world wide, more accurately in the mafia wold, Vongola destroyed their rings. Am I right?"

Tsuna didn't answer. Only keeping his eyes on the other.

"Well, I'm going to shatter what you think you've destroyed." The stranger held the box and opened it. Seven items sat inside the box. Their center gleaming bright. "The Vongola Rings weren't destroyed. Merely hidden."

**And cut! So a final wrap up till chapter 8, Merry Christmas to those that celebrate it and to those who have holidays, Have a great holidays. Bai bai! :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Before starting, a response to makubex000 : Thanks for the review. And an update so you'll know what happens.**

**Enjoy! Happy Reading! ^^**

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

_Flashback_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.**

* * *

><p>They all glanced at each other warily. They were all wondering why they were brought here, urgently much to their bewilderment. Vongola Decimo, with his orange hued eyes scanned the people around the room, Gokudera behind on his right and Yamamoto on his left. Tsuna wasn't in the best mood and even though he controlled what he felt inside, some noticed. Tsuna drew his lips into a thin line remembering what happened in the morning.<p>

"_And the casualties, they've been increasing?" Tsuna asked worried._

"_Yes, and Juudaime, it seems they've started killing again."_

_Tsuna much to his chagrin swore. Just as he was about to address the matter to those alliance with Vongola, the small problem escalated into something he wasn't expecting._

"_Has there been any success in approaching these rebels?"_

"_None so far, Juudaime. From the reports gathered, it seems as if they know when we are coming."_

"_Isn't that the problem?" A voice interrupted and Gokudera turned to be presented with Hibari in the room._

"_Hibari, what are you doing here?"_

"_I've come for something herbivore." Hibari stated. "And I don't want an audience."_

_Gokudera was about to retort when he saw Tsuna signaled him to leave. Gokudera respecting his boss wishes answered, "I'll take my leave." When the door close, Tsuna asked Hibari, "And what is this something?"_

"_I'm leaving for Messina."_

_Tsuna's eyes widened for a fraction before narrowing and asked, "Why?"_

_Hibari ignore Tsuna's question, and said, "Classified."_

"_Kyoya…" _

_Hibari noticed the change in Tsuna , before replying, "I will be gone for a while. There's something I need to check." He then turned to go out of the room, leaving a frazzled Tsuna._

'That Hibari…even for a Cloud he's tight lipped.' A cough from his right startled Tsuna out of his thoughts, making him attentive of the various people who had gathered. Tsuna as per usual greeted them, "Welcome, all. I'm quite pleased that many of you managed to come despite a late notice."

"Get to the point, Decimo."

Tsuna felt Gokudera bristled at the interruption made by Don Verro, a family alliance to the Vongola when Vongola Nono was still in charge. According to what Nono told Tsuna they were a isolationist mafia family. Much had changed when the previous Don died.

"As what we've managed to account what has been happening the past month or so, is the activity of the Millefiore family. We suspect it is a rebellion as their activity have so far been indiscriminate, however, recent activities suggest another. They've so far targeted those afflicted with the Vongola. I'm sure all of you know that by now." Tsuna said, seeing the various nods around the room.

"In this case, a simple capture of all their members would have resolved the problem if not for two reasons. The Millefiore family as we all know has two sections : the White Spell and the Black Spell. The former Don was in charged of White Spell while another was in charge of Black Spell."

"And what is the problem?" Naito Longchamp asked.

"It was sudden and for certain the news did not go out yet but we had an agreement with Black Spell who separated from the Millefiore family during the chaos. We have not yet been able to establish contact with them since the deaths of Yuni and Gamma. My Mist Guardians are currently looking out for any member of the Black Spell. Until then, actions against the Millefiore family would be limited."

No one spoke.

"I have come to the conclusion that this way would be better and should warn that for your safety and your famiglias to keep an eye out. If possible capture them but no killing until deemed necessary."

"Vongola Decimo, you're not really considering this method are you?" one Don asked.

"I am." Tsuna replied.

"Not to be rude, but according to what you have said Decimo, your method is better but is it effective?" Don Verro asked. Tsuna could already see the retorts his Storm guardian was making in his mind when he was interrupted earlier.

"At the moment with these conditions, yes. From what my fellow members have deduced is that they're avoiding capture. They'll likely to attack a party of 3 men or less. Anymore than the given number, and it is highly unlikely, your family member would get attacked. Still, I advise caution."

They broke out into uneasy whispers. "This will only continue until I'm more updated on the matter. Comply with my request this time."

Tsuna's silent plea echoed throughout the room and each Don had seen the world changing slowly due to his efforts. And he was responsible for bringing one of families that threatened them all in the end so what more could they lose?

"Very well, Decimo. We'll follow your orders."

And with the meeting ended, Tsuna paid each Don a goodbye and thankful response to his order. He then went back to his office with Lambo behind him. He encountered Lambo in the middle of the hallways. It seemed that he was waiting for Tsuna. Gokudera and Yamamoto were talking with Naito Longhcamp with the former being as polite as possible in trying to persuade him to leave and Yamamoto enjoying the scene. Reborn at the moment was gone from the mansion doing a favor for the Ninth. Tsuna listened patiently to Lambo's chatter till a knock on the door interrupted them.

"Come in," Tsuna called, pushing the conversation he had aside.

Dino Chiavarone, in his pride and glory, was riding his box animal into Tsuna's office. Tsuna blinked twice at the sight, deciding whether to look amused or exsparated on the entrance. In the end he chose neither and settled on looking passive.

"Not that I don't welcome a visit Don Chiavarone but can you be more civillised and **walk** into my office?" Tsuna asked.

"Don Chiavarone? Can't a big brother visit his younger one? And what happened to all those times you called me Dino-nii?"

"First, I have never called you Dino-nii. I called you Dino-san. Second, that dissappeared when I became Decimo. Where's Romario? Do I have to watch out for you?"

"Geh… Reborn, what did you do to Tsuna?! And I grew out of that habit, otouto. I can walk perfectly fine."

"Only if he's within one hundred metres…" Lambo muttered, then said aloud, "If Reborn was here, he would tell you to shut up and kicked you off your horse, Dino-san."

"Now, Lambo…" Tsuna reprimanded the boy. Lambo did not look sorry.

"Aaah…It's good that he's not here then?" Dino said not feeling offended by what the teen had said, taking out his box where it sucked in the box animal.

Tsuna, seeing this smiled wistfully. Even though he had a few bumps with Natsu whether in the past or present, he missed the lion cub. He caught sight of Lambo making the same expression.

"You miss Gyuudon, don't you Lambo?" Tsuna asked softly.

A bit startled, Lambo replied, "Yeah… I missed him… especially when he bowled over past Gokudera-shi. That was cool."

Tsuna shook his head in response.

Dino confused about what was happening; realised and asked, "You don't have your box weapon, Tsuna? What about the Vongola Rings?"

Tsuna replied, "I destroyed them, don't you remember? And the box animals are nowhere to be found. My guardians thought if our past selves had them when they went back, they should automatically appear in midst of our belongings. They weren't. As for the rings, I never changed my mind about destroying them. Hayato's System C.A.I isn't even here. Maybe it's a consequence for what we did."

"For saving the world? Tsuna, that's highly unlikely."

"It is possible, Dino-san. It's just a theory, though."

"I can't believe this! Then, do you not use rings at all?" Dino continued.

"The others have a couple stashed in their belongings."

"Tsuna, I'm asking about you."

"…I probably won't."

"Why?"

Tsuna didn't know how to answer that. He knew how often in the present, mafia was scrambling to find any rings or box weapons. So, to have a ring even if it wasn't the Vongola Sky ring would certainly prove to be useful to Tsuna but somehow it didn't feel right.

"Nevermind." Dino continued after a tense silence with Lambo looking on worriedly. "Then, how are you?"

Glad for the change of subject, the brunet responded, "I'm fine, though with Reborn around finding every mistake I do, I'm siding towards the negative."

Dino laughed. "I'm not sure if I should be sad for you or grateful since he's my ex-tutor now."

"Then I'll tell him that." Tsuna teasingly said, looking amused at how quickly the colour on Dino's face changed. "Oh, yes. Lambo," Tsuna turned his attention to his Lightning guardian who was seemingly looking bored.

"What is it Vongola?"

"Since, you can't attend school and with I-pin coming here, I've told Hayato to tutor you both. It seems she found the time to come."

"WHAT! Tsuna-nii, no,no,no, you can't…I mean…it's Gokudera-shi!" Lambo cried out looking appalled.

"Hayato's changed. He'll go easier on you."

"He's not that bad," Dino added in.

Lambo changed his gaze to Dino. "Like you have any say in the matter! You were the one who told him to teach me and Ryo-nii in the past. Do you know how he explains?! He brings out a board and go into his world of explaining using words I don't even know! And, he flung me when he got pissed!"

"But you managed to open your box weapon, right? Without any damage to your Vongola box," Dino replied, having heard the situation from the past Reborn. "And created a mess in the library, when you told your box weapon to attack Gokudera."

Lambo felt a corner of his lips turn up, "That was funny. But still Vongola!" Lambo turned towards Tsuna who was staring at nothing.

"Vongola?"

No response.

"Tsuna-nii?"

Tsuna looked towards them, a face of urgency. Lambo looked at his older brother, astonished to find his eyes clearer from before. The same eyes who looked like they had suddenly discover a secret of knowledge. Tsuna pushed past the both of them, saying, "Talbot's in trouble! I have to go! Lambo, tell the others to come as quickly as they can!"

Dino and Lambo was stunned. What in the world was Tsuna doing? They watched him easily go into HDWM and flew out of the window before they realised it.

Dino finally getting the gears turning said, "What the-Tsuna!"

"Dino-nii, Vongola- Tsuna-nii, where's he going?" Lambo asked, his voice shaking.

"I'm not sure but Lambo go find the others. Shoichi is here,right?" Dino asked. Lambo nodded. "I'll tell him to track where Tsuna's going. Hopefully we'll be able to reach in time."

They hurriedly turned to exit the office when Dino fell flat onto the floor with Lambo sweating a little at how ironic that Dino's clumsiness comes at the last second.

* * *

><p><strong>5 minutes ago<strong>

"Looks like we'll finally be able to greet your masters, little ones," Talbot said. A few noises answered him back. "All of you can't wait to meet them. Yes, yes, I know about that."

"Oh~, what do you know of?" A voice called out.

Talbot turned to the voice. "Blind are you old man?"

"Even if I'm blind, I can still hear." Talbot carefully answered back.

"That maybe so, now can you hand it over?" the person asked.

"Hand what over?"

"Mmm…" And with that, Talbot felt his feet being lifted from the ground and the box being snatched from him. "There we go. Oh and one last thing."

The stranger knocked Talbot into unconcious who at the last minute could hear someone landing beside him.

Tsuna, having landed to Talbot, had enough time for his HI to warn him about the sudden attack from his left. He avoided the blow, only to see through at what the action had brought him : away from Talbot.

Tsuna gritted his teeth. His head was pounding, nothing he couldn't handle after having the time to clear his head a bit. He had use his hard flames to get to where the maker was. 'He couldn't have warn me earlier, could he.' Tsuna thought having recovered only the memory of the man when he was hospitalised and the man informing him that Talbot was encountering trouble. His HI once again was quiet, alerting him with small warning bells whenever he decided to move closer to Talbot.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The cloaked stranger said.

"What did you do to Talbot?" Tsuna asked, fists curled up and tensed.

"It's pleasure to finally meet you Sawada Tsunayoshi or would you rather prefer Vongola Decimo and I didn't do anything to him. He's only sleeping."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the acting regent of the Millefiore, though some called me boss; Shichirou at your service." He bowed, mockingly at Tsuna.

'What? Millefiore couldn't possibly have another boss. Byakuran was the only one who could possess the Mare Ring and his guardians were locked up.' Tsuna thought while still watching the other and noticed the box in the cloaked person's hand.

"What did you take from him?"

"…This is unexpected. I thought you of all people knew."

"Knew what?" Tsuna was uneasy, granted he was alone with Talbot unconscious and the other person with him was a potential threat.

Shichirou gave him a sly grin. "You didn't know? According to what was announced worldwide, more accurately in the mafia wold, Vongola destroyed their rings. Am I right?"

Tsuna didn't answer; only keeping his eyes on the other.

"Well, I'm going to shatter what you think you've destroyed." The stranger held the box and opened it. Seven items sat inside the box; their centre gleaming bright. "The Vongola Rings weren't destroyed. Merely hidden."

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile<strong>

"Follow on straight into the trees and then turn-wait, stop. Spanner reset this as quickly as possible. Hurry!"

"Shoichi, what's going on?" Gokudera asked, having leading the way to Tsuna with Shoichi guiding him and the other guardians who were present with Dino being left behind in the mansion, sulking from Gokudera's persistence.

"_Dino-san, you aren't much use if Romario or your subordinates are not of 100 metres radius of you. Since Romario- san is not here, let us handle it. Tsuna's our boss."_

_Ignoring how that might have stabbed the Chiavarone boss, Gokudera took off with the Rain, Sun and Lightning guardians._

"The scanner's showing 3 readings of sky flames. I'm not sure which one's Tsunayoshi-kun." Shoichi replied through the transceiver.

"Then, we'll split up. Which directions are they in?"

"One's in the east, another north-east and the last south west from your current position."

"Alright, Yamamoto take the east, Ryohei take north-east. I'll take south west. Ahou-shi, you'll come with me. When you see Juudaime, send a signal. Ready? Go."

With that order, the group split into three, a pair of eyes following the back of two particular guardians.

* * *

><p><strong>Back to Tsuna<strong>

Tsuna didn't dare move. He wanted to grab them but he didn't. There were so many things he wanted to do at that moment but he didn't show. With a steely intake of breath, he asked, "They were destroyed, I made sure of that."

"And you did…to the replicas. Take another look Decimo; I assure you these are the genuine ones."

Tsuna didn't need to take another look. He knew they were the Vongola rings; the actual ones. He recognized the shift of interior change of them all wearing the colours of their respective flames and his own.

"And? Are you taking them?"

"No. I'm just returning this to you. I've done what I needed." Shichirou replied, having done the actions behind his back to the sky ring when Tsuna had been shocked momentarily.

"Then why knock out Talbot?"

"He was slow." Shichirou tossed the box to Tsuna who caught it, still alert at the situation.

'I'm not getting any signs of danger. What's going to happen?' Tsuna wasn't going to charge him recklessly. The Vongola Rings were safe. Now, he had to get Talbot to the mansion.

"Looks like my objective's here. Then, see you later Decimo. Give my regards to your Guardians especially Mukuro." With a whoosh of mist flames, the acclaimed regent of Millefiore vanished.

Tsuna let out a breath and attended to Talbot when he heard a familiar voice.

"SAWADA!" Ryohei reached the clearing; shouting like his younger self had in days past and was ultimately relieved when he saw Tsuna unharmed. "What happened?"

"Nothing. Ryohei, attend to Talbot. I'm not sure if he's alright."

Ryohei nodded and was about to check the old man when a hand slapped his away.

"There's no need." Talbot said.

"Talbot, you need to get checked." Tsuna said.

"I may be old, Tsunayoshi but I'm not weak." A glare from the man made Tsuna back away. Ryohei made to flare up a signal to the others. Moments later Yamamoto arrived, his hair dishevelled. Tsuna frowned at his appearance.

"Tsuna! I'm glad you're okay!" Yamamoto half laughing, half happy said.

Before Tsuna could voice his question, Ryohei beat it to him.

"What in the extreme happen to you?!" He shouted.

"Ahaha, I slipped and fell onto some bushes. I'm not hurt, senpai."

"Still…" Ryohei looked at him

"That Sun of yours is as loud as ever."

Tsuna managed a smile. "Yeah…"

"So, Gokudera's not here yet?" Yamamoto glanced around. "Strange, I thought he would be here before me."

"Hayato's also here?" Tsuna asked.

"Hmm? We split up to search for you. Lambo's with him too. There was something wrong at base so he told us to split up."

"Something wrong?"

"The scanner showed three sky flames. Gokudera headed south west with Lambo."

"How long was this?"

"About twenty minutes ago. Is there something wrong Tsuna?" Yamamoto's voice growing with concern.

Tsuna realised his HI had stop working again. It wasn't warning him anything. A sense of foreboding filled him. He opened the box containing the rings. 'No…'

There in the box lay six rings instead of the original seven. One was missing.

* * *

><p>Shichirou had to admit, it was going smoothly, too smoothly for his liking. You have some wins and you have some losses, that was how it usually goes. But he didn't want to complain. Just make the best of it and he was making the best of it, so when he appeared before the Lightning guardian who freaked out alerting the Storm, it was hard to wipe the grin of his face.<p>

"Who the hell are you?!" Gokudera spat, an arm out protecting the teen behind him.

"The regent of Millefiore: Shichirou at your service. I met your boss today, he was what I expected."

"What did you do to Juudaime?!"

"Nothing at the moment…" He allowed the Cheshire grin to show on his face.

Gokudera looked at him cautiously. "Then, what do you want?"

Shichirou didn't waste a breath in his demand. "You."

The declaration caught off both guardians. Lambo forgetting his fright, said, "There's no way Gokudera-shi's going with you!"

Gokudera who was now armed with the knowledge bit back a curse when Lambo spoke. "Baka! Don't just speak! Let me handle this."

"I hate to allow more time to pass so I'm going to do this quickly. Summoning his mist flames, he cloaked Lambo in an illusion.

"What did you do?!" Gokudera shouted.

"Making him relieve his worst fear."

Gokudera felt his stomach churned. They were past that point. He didn't have to think about it.

"Wait, I'll come. Just stop."

"No… Hayato-nii." Lambo uttered, tears streaming down his face. Whether from the illusion of from him going with the cloaked person, Gokudera didn't know.

"Idiot…" Gokudera hissed though a reassuring smile was on his face. "Am I not your brother?"

"First," Shichirou said, not releasing Lambo from the illusion, "wear this." He held up the Vongola Storm ring and the bomber's eyes widened.

"Hurry, or I'll make his trauma become true constantly."

Gokudera caught the ring and put on his finger.

"Now, you may have misunderstood what I wanted. Release your flames until I tell you to stop." Gokudera complied, his Storm flame shining brightly from the ring. Then, ebbed… flickering into an orb held in the regent's hand. Lambo screamed. Gokudera jerked back to look at him but Shichirou's voice stopped him from doing so, "Don't stop. Continue."

Gokudera felt with every flame of him being sucked away, his legs were struggling to support his weight. He felt a bristle of electricity. 'That damn cow never listens…'

"Don't you dare come near Ahou-shi!"

"No. I'm always being shielded whether from you or Vongola." Lambo replied. He felt his horns charge with his lightning flames before charging at Shichirou. "Thunder set. Electrico Cornata!" Lambo charged, his mind swaying but he was certain the man was beyond Gokudera.

"Too late." And with that, Shoichi cut the illusion from Lambo, letting him see the clear forest greenery. In Shichirou's hand lay an orb filled with storm flames. "I kept my end of the bargain. Till we meet again, little lightning. I'll be sure to come for yours too." And he vanished.

Lambo turned to Gokudera and found him on the ground crouching and breathing heavily. He turned to look at the teen and Lambo was shocked at how pale the bomber was. "So you're safe eh, Ahou-shi. Tell Juudaime…I'm sorry for…troubling him." Gokudera said, fainting at last.

"Gokudera-shi! Gokudera-shi! …HAYATO-NII!"

Unbeknownst to Lambo who was frantically trying to wake the bomber up, Gokudera's storm ring shone and a figure appeared a few feet away.

"…" G sighed. "Gotta give him credit for protecting his family. I better tell Giotto."

* * *

><p>"The Storm Ring isn't here," Tsuna said, his worry growing. "Takeshi, which way did they go?"<p>

When Yamamoto was about to answer, a faint glow was coming from the sky ring and before Tsuna could grasp the situation, Vongola Primo stood before him.

Tsuna for once after years of lessons from Reborn about mafia was at a loss. He blinked at the sight of the founder of Vongola before saying, "Vongola Primo?"

If the situation wasn't urgent, Tsuna thought he could see a smile creeping onto his ancestor's face. "Decimo, it's good to see you again. I bring news of your Storm guardian. He's right across the clearing ten minutes away."

Tsuna wasn't sure what to say next except "Thank you." Vongola Primo vanished and Tsuna faced his guardians. "Ryohei, take Talbot back to the mansion. Takeshi, let's go."

Much to say, it was no hassle getting the two guardians into order. Two of their family was in possible danger. Tsuna and Yamamoto ran to the scene cutting the time that would have taken them to six minutes. Their adrenaline was pumping through their blood which was the reason why they weren't prepared for the view when they arrived. They saw Lambo crying next to a near-still Gokudera.

"Ore-sama has to hold it in. Gokudera-shi won't like it if ore-sama continued like this." Lambo spoke aloud to himself, unaware Tsuna and Yamamoto was behind him. "Ore-sama has to be strong. Ne, Hayato-nii, if ore-sama was stronger, you wouldn't have to protect a ahou-shi like me anymore. Ne, Hayato-nii, weren't you going to tutor me? Won't you speak like before? Stop telling me to be a cry baby?"

Tsuna couldn't stand seeing Lambo speaking unlike himself. He found his voice and called out, "Lambo…"

Lambo turned his face wet from tears, saw his family before tackling into Tsuna. "It's my fault Vongola. Gokudera-shi's hurt because of me," he cried.

"No, it's not. Lambo, Hayato did what he thought was best. Can you tell me what happened?" Tsuna asked; his voice strong and comforting to the teen.

Lambo explained and crying in the middle about Shichirou appearing before them, putting him into an illusion about a particular event which he felt Tsuna tense. The storing of Gokudera's flames inside an orb and finally Gokudera fainting. Tsuna meanwhile had Yamamoto checked Gokudera's pulse. He sent Tsuna an 'ok' signal. Tsuna felt the mental exhaustion creeping onto the teen and stood up.

"Come on Lambo. It's time we head home." They returned to the mansion a bit later than usual since Lambo fell asleep and Tsuna had to carry him. Tsuna didn't mind. It reminded him of the days when Lambo was a child. Well, he wasn't that different from when he was young but still, it was a good feeling.

They arrived at the infirmary where Ryohei was talking, more specifically shouting to Talbot.

"I'M THE MEDICAL STAFF HERE. SO I SAY YOU EXTREMELY NEED TO GET CHECKED."

"For the last time, boy. I am not hurt and keep your voice down."

"ONLY IF YOU GET CHECKED."

Talbot not yet deprived from losing his hearing yet, agreed only because he wanted peace. After a confirmation, that Talbot suffered no physical injury, Ryohei stopped bugging him.

"Onii-san, we need you to look at Gokudera." Tsuna said. Ryohei took one look at the Storm guardian before asked Yamamoto to place him on a nearby bed when Shoichi and Spanner burst into the infirmary.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, there's something you need to see!" Shoichi exclaimed.

"Good to see you well, Vongola," Spanner greeted Tsuna.

"Thanks Spanner. So what is it that I need to see?" Tsuna asked after laying Lambo onto a bed next to Gokudera.

"Is he alright?" Shoichi asked, pointing his finger at Gokudera.

"We're not sure yet. And Shoichi, would you tell us?"

"Ah yes, sorry. I think we might know. About earlier, Spanner saw something weird on the radar. Remember the Byakuran from another parallel world?"

"You mean Ghost?"

"Yes, well we detected almost the same phenomenon Ghost did of sucking flames which was transferred to Byakuran. And then just now, we noticed the low flame storage of Gokudera-san's. Gokudera-san must have his flames taken by that method."

Ryohei spoke up after examining the Storm guardian. "Tsuna, other than being physically and flame exhausted, he's going to be fine."

Tsuna let out a breath; good news so far. "Yes but Tsunayoshi-kun. It doesn't end there." Shoichi continued. "I think it's better if Spanner explain this. He's more accurate about Dying Will flames."

Spanner took over, "Dying Will flames tie in how physically fit we are or have an abundance of stamina. Basically one affects the other. Since Gokudera-san's has been drained of his Storm flames, he won't wake up until they're restored."

"What?" Tsuna asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"He needs to recover his flames and sleep is the best way to do it." Spanner finished.

"How long?" Tsuna asked in a quiet voice.

"It depends on the person or if there's a transfer of the same type of flames. He will recover much quickly."

"To put it bluntly, Hayato is in a coma state." Tsuna stated the truth.

They stayed silent. Yamamoto didn't know how to respond. 'A coma? Like Tsuna before?'

Ryohei was shocked. "Why would he be in a coma state?"

"The thing is Gokudera-san's flame storage is extremely low. He'll need at least half of it restored before he can do anything," Spanner explained.

Tsuna clenched his hands. His headache from before came back but he pushed it down with his will.

"But he's in no danger at all?"

"Yes, Vongola." Spanner said.

"Alright, we can work this out. Talbot, you'll be staying here for the night. I won't take no for an answer. Ryohei, Takeshi, get some rest. It's been a long day and here."

Tsuna handed them the Vongola rings which they stared in surprise.

"I thought you destroyed them, Tsuna," Yamamoto said.

"Yeah, Sawada. What's going on?" Ryohei questioned.

"I'm as confused as you are. I know I destroyed them. But they were in possession of Talbot before. Tomorrow, hopefully we'll have some answers. Shoichi, Spanner, thank you."

Tsuna then put the Vongola Lightning ring near Lambo and proceeded to return to his office. He was startled from his thoughts when someone called out to him.

"Still lost in your thoughts, boy?" Tsuna turned to look at Talbot. Apparently, Talbot had followed Tsuna. "But first things first." Talbot then reached into his cloak and pulled out a ring which he held towards Tsuna. Puzzled, Tsuna took the ring before it shone brightly; on the ground in front of him, stood Natsu, his sky flame mane gleaming brightly.

"Natsu!" Tsuna shocked at seeing the lion cub.

"Gao!" Natsu pounced onto Tsuna, licking his master's face adoringly. Tsuna in response patted the cub, and scratched his ear.

"It's good to see you again, Natsu." The cub responded happily. After making sure that Natsu wouldn't lick his face anymore, Tsuna turned to face Talbot. "And? Will you answer how the Vongola rings are still here? Or the box animal?"

"I think I can answer to that question." A new voice piped in behind Tsuna. He turned, and the soft pressure of the Sky flame unsealed his remaining memories. He shifted them again as he did many times before. He gritted his teeth as the realisation came through. His HDWM bursting out due to his uncontrolled anger at what happened to his friend and the thought of the one person who knew it was all going to happen. He grabbed the front suit of the man before furiously shouting, "You knew! You knew what was going to happen! No more riddles! Answer me now, Checkerface!"

* * *

><p><strong>In Messina<strong>

Hibari whisked his tonfas out at the person in front of him. After weeks of waiting and finding dead end leads, Kusakabe managed to give him the one place where some of the Millefiore former members were seen about: Messina. Hibari clearly knew there was something odd with the brown herbivore but at times he couldn't see anything strange. It was like Sawada Tsunayoshi had finally managed to beat his Cloud guardian in hiding whatever was on his mind. But Hibari knew. Tsuna was open to read most of the time, even when he wasn't, the strains he took to not let it show on the outside always caught Hibari's attention.

And he heard what happened in the office of the something happening to the Sawada flames. He concluded that the Millefiore family was up to something even if Byakuran was gone. The idea of someone taking over seemed impossible to Tsuna but Hibari always kept the option open. So here he was in a desolated area near Messina, having recognised one of the members belonging to the Millefiore.

He took note of the appearance. Wearing the same uniform as assigned to White Spell. The person in front of him breathed raggedly. Hibari narrowed his eyes and pressed a tonfa against his neck.

"Talk," he said, "Or I'll have you bitten to death."

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere near Leonforte<strong>

"Mukuro-sama, where are we heading?" Chrome asked.

"Kufufu~, you should know Nagi. The last time we saw the Black Spell members it was in Namimori, correct?"

"Yes."

"But they weren't originally from Japan. Their founder was here in Italy. Tsunayoshi has found the location where Yuni had resided in her early years before going to stay in Japan and joining with Byakuran. We're heading there to see if any returned to their old base."

"Mukuro-sama?"

"Yes?"

"In that case, why did you beat up all these mafia?" Chrome pointed to a bunch of mafia men that were sprawled on the ground.

"I may have accepted Sawada Tsunayoshi but I still hate the mafia. Oya, oya, it seems there's someone who doesn't learn." Mukuro trapped the mafia in a field of illusions who had targeted Chrome before he intervened. He grinned while Chrome looked on at the scene exasperatedly. 'Bossu, sorry.'

In truth, Tsuna sent both his Mist guardians only because he hoped that Chrome and control Mukuro. Sadly, Chrome herself had grown the past few years and attracted quite an attention. Mukuro while can allow some to pass, could not for others.

* * *

><p>Shichirou glanced at the Storm flames moving to and fro. The machine was back on. 'Have a good life, Decimo.' Without further ado, he went back to the past.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Finally! I wrote it! The longest chapter not considering author's note. There was so much hype when I wrote this. One of my favs. The plot is going forward and I had G and Giotto make a short appearance before their time comes. Lets get to the point. I'm thanking the following for favouriting/following this story: Kuvica, Mercerile, NATASHAMAY, ctdiaz, luwiluwi, ****tsukuyomi sakurachi**** (couldn't put the dot, sorry), makubex000 and FinalXFantasy91. (Hope no names are missed.) So the preview from last chapter was resolved in this. And just so I myself can stay in hype, a preview for the oncoming. The conditions from the last preview applied to this. XD**

"Alright. I get it." Tsuna resignedly said. "It starts from now?"

"The conditions has been fullfilled." Checkerface replied.

**_skip_**

"I don't need your ******* help!" The boy slapped away the hand offered to him. No one cared for him. Like how the state of the town is. Why should he start? He got up and eyed the kid. A messy haired blonde stared back.

"Everyone needs help once in awhile." The blonde answered back.

"Well, I don't need it. Now get lost!"

"You should come with me!" The blonde answered enthusiastically, ignoring what the capped wearing boy said.

"I don't even know you!" He shouted.

"Oh, then I should probably introduce myself, my name's Giotto."

Shichirou looked at the scene. A first hand meeting of the first generation. Now that was exciting. "I suppose I can do it later. In the meantime, I'll enjoy this."

**It probably wouldn't go like this. It may be cliche that Checkerface was the one who contacted Tsuna but it seemed logical since he is the one in charge of the Tri-ni-Sette. Well until next time! P.S. From the preview, adult 1st gen are still coming. This is just purely so Shichirou can do something.**


	10. Special Omake 2

**A/N: A brief special omake.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.**

**Happy Reading**

"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

Setting: Occurs after Chapter 7 but before Chapter 8

* * *

><p>An ordinary afternoon 4 pm<p>

Tsuna pressed his fingers against his eyes attempting to keep a roll of exhaustion pass over. He inaudibly sighed catching the attention of a certain silver haired guardian.

"Juudaime, are you alright?" Gokudera asked.

Tsuna waved a hand, "It's nothing you should worry about, Hayato. My eyes just drooped down."

Tsuna could feel his right-hand frown and said, "You should take a break, Juudaime."

The don dropped his hands and open his eyes to his guardian, "Just let me finish reading these."

Gokudera opened his mouth to object but nodded his head silently, focusing on his task at hand. He was looking at the activities of the all famiglias known to the Vongola, allied or not. There was a matter he needed to find out. He finished one famiglia when he noticed his boss had stopped reading his report and had his eyes closed. Gokudera sighed. As much as he respected his boss, there were certain times when he wished Tsuna wouldn't take his job too seriously. He briefly recalled some memories of Juudaime not wanting to be the boss of a mafia family. 'How ironic, isn't it Juudaime?' the Storm guardian thought. But it didn't matter to Gokudera whether Tsuna was a boss or not, he would follow his boss to whatever ends unless he (Gokudera) thought it might endanger him.

Gokudera lifted up from his seat on the couch and walked towards the brunet. Tsuna flicked his eyes open and saw his friend walking towards him. He sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'll take a break."

Tsuna yawned, standing and stumbled before being caught by his Storm. 'And it manages to make an appearance again…'

"Juudaime, please rest on the couch," Gokudera firmly instructed his boss.

Tsuna raised an eyebrow, "Usually you would pester me to go to my room, Hayato. What's with the change of mind today?"

"So I can keep an eye on you." Gokudera replied back unfazed by the look covering Tsuna's face.

"Very well."

Within moments, Vongola Decimo was seen resting on the couch, his jacket hung on the arm and Gokudera satisfied with the situation went back working, clearing as much paperwork he deemed that did not require Tsuna's attention. Gokudera read through the files making a note to reprimand the others especially Hibari and Mukuro. 'Those ********, Juudaime doesn't need to work so hard if they didn't destroy most of the property. At least the others are taking into account of their destruction.' He didn't realised time had passed when Tsuna's voice came out.

"Ne, Hayato?"

Gokudera blinked, broken out of his concentration. "Juudaime? Shouldn't you rest a bit more?"

Tsuna laughed softly at his friend's question. "I guess even you can lose track of time. I rested for 2 hours already, Hayato. Remind me to use this against you."

Gokudera felt his cheeks warmed before confirming it was indeed six, the sky outside was turning dark as the sun sets.

"Anyway Hayato, I need to ask a favour of you."

"What is it, Juudaime?"

"Seemingly as this issue with the Millefiore right now won't breeze through anytime soon and I think that Reborn was right in bringing all that know us personally here, I-pin and Lambo are going to miss their school education. Namimori at the moment has been recovering thanks to Foundation and they will be carrying on as usual. I don't want them to miss all those lessons but I cannot allow them to be there."

Gokudera sensed where his boss was going. "You want me to home-schooled them?"

Tsuna sat up and smiled at his friend. "Basically, yes." Tsuna saw the incredulous look on Gokudera's face and stifled an incoming laugh. "You're the best person for the job, aside from being my right-hand man, of course. You know how Namimori-chuu operates."

Gokudera stayed silent before answering, "It would be my honor, Juudaime."

"No retorts? I thought you would have at least grumbled about Lambo." Tsuna teasingly said.

"None at all, Juudaime." Gokudera answered tactfully. Tsuna smiled proudly at his Storm.

"Oh, yes. Did you also tell them?" Tsuna asked.

Gokudera paused in his work, eyes swirling in confusion. "Them, Juudaime?"

"About our current situation- Ah… I forgot you don't personally know him. I came across him once in town." Noticing the look sent by Gokudera, Tsuna added nervously, "It happened during the time I was taking a break."

"Anyway, we became fast friends and I've been in contact with him ever since. I thought I mentioned him to you."

Gokudera startled about this new information asked, "Juudaime, excuse me for asking this but he's not-"

"No. He's not. The first time I saw him, he reminded me of me. We were similar in many ways. And to reassure you more, I personally checked on his background and I wasn't expecting it truthfully. I think I might arrange a time when you all can meet him. But in the meantime-"

Tsuna was cut off by his hand phone ringing. He looked at the contact before answering, "This is Sawada Tsunayoshi speaking. How may I help you?"

"Is that any way for Vongola Decimo to be speaking?" the person replied back, laughter in his voice.

"In any case, no; it's good to hear from you again. How are you, Enma?"

"As good as we can be, Tsuna-kun. And I want to thank you about telling us about the Millefiore family."

"What are friends for? Anyway, I'm glad you called first, apparently there's still trouble brewing up and it seems that the Millefiore are still active. I'm sorry but you still need to hide."

"You don't have to worry about us too much, I understand. But are you sure you don't need our help? Vongola is always involved." Enma asked worriedly.

"We can take care of this. I wouldn't want to pull you into our mess."

"It's not so much of your mess, Tsuna-kun." Tsuna faintly heard some sounds in the back. "Wah! Adelheid, what are you doing? I better get going Tsuna-kun; Adelheid's starting to choke Julie. I need to put a stop to that. Take care, Tsuna-kun."

"I'll talk to you later then. Say hi to the rest of the family for me." Tsuna ended the call and saw Gokudera, puzzled.

"Excuse my bluntness Juudaime, but who was that?" Gokudera asked.

"Hmm? Oh, he was the person I was mentioning to you. Kozato Enma."

"Kozato Enma? I haven't heard anyone of that name in town even if he was a regular."

"He's not someone you can find, Gokudera," Tsuna smiled.

"Why is that Juudaime?" Gokudera paused, then standing up alarmed. "Is he in the mafia?"

Tsuna contemplated the thought. "Presently, he's not."

"Present?"

"Ah, remember when I told you I was researching his background? It turns out he's connected to Cozart Shimon; to be correct, the Shimon famiglia."

"Shimon famiglia?" Gokudera was just confused.

Tsuna gave his Storm a secret smile. "No one recognises them now. But Vongola and Shimon were close friends once in the past. You could say we our families are like brothers to one another."

Gokudera blinked at the vagueness of his boss and settled down backed to the stacks of papers needed to verify. He wanted to check on this famiglia itself but for now, he would trust his boss. A sudden thought came to Gokudera's mind.

"Juudaime, may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Does this mean that this Kozato Enma would also have guardians like you? What are they like?"

Tsuna was taken aback at this question and chuckled uneasily. "Well…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there you have it. Enma briefly comes. I always like the stories of TYL Tsuna and Enma still keeping their friendship even after they claimed their inheritance. And oh yes, since chapter 9 is a bit longer than usual I'll say majority of what I need. To Bernie6394, sorry but about Giotto's eyes, I'm going to follow what Yuki said about his - Orange. I try to stay as canon as possible. Hope you onwards to Chapter 9! ^^**


	11. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well, after 4 months of no updates. Chapter 9 is a go!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.**

**Enjoy yourselves! **

"Speaking"

'Thoughts'

_"Flashbacks" are in italics, well some of them. The other italics if there is no Flashback means it's being spoken in the present._

* * *

><p><strong>Previously<strong>

_He grabbed the front suit of the man before furiously shouting, "You knew! You knew what was going to happen! No more riddles! Answer me now, Checker-face!"_

**Now**

Tsuna glared at the masked man, the very person who visited him in his dreams. He focused his attention, shaking away the pieces of memories which were still floating in his head. The masked man stayed silent. He could see the anger and rage clearly visible on the young Don's face.

"Tsunayoshi." Talbot spoke up. Though Tsuna heard him, his gaze was still on Checker-face. "Release him. He has his reasons."

There was no reason for Tsuna to listen to Talbot. If his emotions were in control, he would have simply ignored the elder's word but his rational mind shaped by Reborn told him to respect Talbot's word; an elder who had somehow managed to be in existence for most possibly more than 400 years. Begrudgingly, Tsuna released the masked man and tried to compose his breathing evenly. "Enough is enough. I want some answers. First, how are the Vongola Rings in perfect condition?"

Checker-face straightens his suit, and then answered, "The answer to that is simple enough; the Tri-ni-Set."

Tsuna questioningly gazed at the man, his anger not forgotten yet pushed aside for the moment. Checker-face elaborated, "The Tri-ni-Set as you know is composed of the Mare rings, the Arcobaleno Pacifiers and the Vongola Rings. Now, what would happen if one of those set was taken away? I'm sure you know what the purpose of the Tri-ni-Set is in the world."

"To maintain the world; but what does it have to do with the existence of this time's Vongola Rings? I've checked with Talbot and as long as my past self's Vongola Rings existed; the balance would still be fine."

"Did you perhaps hand Talbot the rings?"

"Yes." Tsuna stopped himself. He switched his attention to Talbot who was silently following the conversation. "You switched them."

"He did it on my behalf." Checker-face supplied.

"But, even if you switched them, I would certainly sense they were fakes." Tsuna pointed out.

As soon as he finished his sentence, Tsuna approached by a feeling of something coming, waited and soon enough, a bright flash appeared next to Tsuna. The flash revealed a cluster of flames swirling before giving away to a blond haired Italian man wearing a pinstriped suit and a cape. A weak sigh escaped from Tsuna.

"I should have known. You conspired with them, huh…" Tsuna glanced at the figure, "Primo."

Vongola Primo, rather Giotto smiled at his descendant. "It's good to see you alive, Tsunayoshi."

….

….

Tsuna focused his attention to the occupants of the room: Giotto looking regretful whereas Talbot remained still. Checker-face; Tsuna couldn't comprehend but he had a hunch the man wouldn't care except the stability of the Tri-ni-Set. "Primo, there is no need for you to look like that, this will affect you also," he said catching the small rueful grin sent to him from his ancestor. "We've discussed this together and," Tsuna turned to Checker-face. "It starts from now, right?"

"The conditions have been fulfilled." Checker-face replied. "And how is your progress with perfecting the barrier?"

"It's coming along better than I expected and will be ready soon enough. Is there something more I need to learn?"

Checker-face posture gave him away. "Not at the moment but, in time, Tsunayoshi-kun. I best get going and one last thing."

…

…

…

Tsuna blinked, feeling disorientated, and the pain in his legs indicated he been standing for far too long.

"Tsunayoshi?" Tsuna turned towards the voice, finding Talbot peering at him.

"Talbot?" Tsuna glanced around the room-office, he corrected himself; he was in his office. Doing what exactly? "What are you doing here?" Tsuna asked.

"Gao?" Hearing the noise, Tsuna saw Natsu looking worriedly at him.

"We were discussing the possibility of the Vongola rings being in perfect shape. I explained it you."

Tsuna stayed silent before the pieces of the conversation floated back to him. "I remember now."

Talbot sweats inwardly. 'Did he forget to adjust the seal?' "Then, I believe it is time for me to get my rest. Goodnight, Vongola Decimo."

Tsuna cocked his head to the side, muddled at how strangely the conversation went with the maker, before saying his greeting. "Gao!" Natsu went towards Tsuna rubbing his cheek against his leg. Sensing what he needed, Tsuna cradled the lion cub in his arms and scratch it behind its ear. "Welcome back," he said warmly.

* * *

><p><em><strong>In the past<strong>_

Shichirou glanced around and noticed the differences from the last time he came. There were some buildings under construction. 'Something good must happen to the town,' he concluded. Having the sense that he wasted enough time, Shichirou searched for his target. 'If the town is different, then time must have passed. But how long?' No sooner had he made the thought, he came across a particular scene.

A few boys were seemingly kicking something. Jeering and laughing at someone, Shichirou realised when the person who was being beaten up punched one of them.

"If you idiots think I'm gonna let you beat me up easily, you're dead wrong!" A boy no more than 7 years old declared. He spat and proceeded to fight back. If it was one against one, it was no certain the boy would win, however he was easily thrown back to the ground and sneered upon.

"Hah! Tell us that when we're the ones on the ground." One the elder boys spoke up and they all proceeded to beat him back.

"This way, sir! I think there's someone in trouble!" A voice called out.

"Someone's coming! Leave him! We gotta go." The leader himself called the others and within minutes they scurried off.

The boy left on the floor, coughed and spat blood on the sidewalk, wincing at the pain and was thankful there were no bruises visible.

"You okay?"

He looked towards the voice and saw a blonde kid about the same age as him looking worried, holding his hand out. He slapped it away.

"The hell are you here for?" He spat it out, not wanting to have any interaction with a kind soul - he guessed - in the town.

The blonde frowned as he watched the other pick himself up. "I heard a scuffle from where I was headed and then I saw you."

"Next time kid, when you see that, walk away." The boy said back to him, just cause he had a few generosity he had left in him.

"No."

He stopped inspecting the places he got hit and turned to the blonde. "What?"

"You're a kid too, the same age as me I guess. Why should I listen to you and what's wrong with helping people?" he retorted.

"Freaking idiota. Look you better go better I lose my temper, alright? And can't you see it in this town? No one helps anyone. Gangs come here and go as they please. Any trouble in this town and you can be sure; no one will come to you."

The blonde stayed silent contemplating the thought. "I still don't get why I can't just help?"

The other grits his teeth, frustration visible, "Argh! Do whatever you want! I just said it as a warning!" He then stomped away quickly before hearing hurried steps behind him.

"Hey, wait! You're still injured! Let me help you!"

"I don't ******* need your help! I don't even know you! Go help someone else, if you're that stubborn to listen to some advice. I for one don't need your help." He turned away walking briskly, satisfied when he could hear no one following him. 'Is he an idiot or what?' he thought back to the blonde haired kid who had the look of innocence lying underneath. Next thing he knew was falling to the ground and about to shout out some pretty unbelievable cussing when he heard it.

"Ouch!"

'You have got to be kidding me…' He glanced towards the other person and swore. The same blonde haired kid was back.

"That hurt. Ah! Are you alright? I tried to get your attention but you just bowled over me!" the blonde said happily.

"What are you, a stalker?!"

"Eh? Of course not! I'm just worried about you. But first things first," the blonde got back up dusted his pants then reached towards the other boy while introducing himself, "I'm Giotto."

The other boy was staring at him incredulously. Giotto however continued, "See now that you know my name. I know you. You're not a stranger to me anymore so I helping you should be alright in your book, huh? Anyway, what's your name?"

The other boy jaw was a bit opened still bewildered at how things went but he quickly grasped the situation and slapped Giotto's hand away again. "Like h*** would I tell you my name!"

Shichirou saw the kid run away from the not yet Vongola Primo. Giotto stood with a forlorn look on his face before turning away. The regent of the Millefiore family watched the entire scene with interest. Deciding that the encounter would bring a form of entertainment, Shichirou decided to wait for a while before putting his plans into action.

_**2 days later **_

"Hey! I still wanna know your name!" Giotto called out as he chased the same boy. The said boy shouted before trying to lose Giotto.

"Are you serious?!"

_**1 week later**_

"What are those two boys doing?" a man asked.

"Oh, you haven't heard?" The baker was currently watching the commotion of Giotto dodging the stuff thrown towards him by the same boy. "You know Giotto; he's been chasing that kid for over a week asking for his name. It looks like he really wants to be friends with him."

The bystander blinked. "Do his grandparents know about this?"

"Oh, they know alright. They're actually glad he's doing this."

"But who's the other boy?"

"Not too sure but he appears more often in town now." They paused in their conversation when Giotto tripped, falling flat on his face. They winced at the sight then widened their eyes when it looked like the other boy was hesitating whether to help Giotto or run away. He decided on the latter.

…

The 'game' between Giotto and the boy continued for another 2 weeks and Shichirou was getting bored. 'Hmm…looks like nothing big is happening. I better get started.'

"Uncle, have you seen him?" Giotto asked the fishmonger.

"Oh Giotto is it? No, I haven't seen him. Still determined to know his name?"

"Yes. I really want to know him."

The fishmonger smiled at the child and ruffled his hair. "He'll turn around. Just keep-"

A burning smell wafted over their conversation. Intrigued by the burning smell, Giotto waved goodbye to the fishmonger and hurriedly followed the smell of burning, not hearing the warning that was being shouted to him. He found the source not long as it was accompanied by the rest of the folk screaming to get water. It was a sight he couldn't forget. The fire was spreading gradually inside the house. It spittle and crackled every few minutes. And people were rushing to put it out. Giotto wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light or not, but he swore he saw someone inside. Against his better judgement for his own safety, he rushed in to the burning house. Shichirou smiled at the sight.

* * *

><p><em><strong>400+ years in the future (or the present?)<strong>_

Tsuna stretched his arms over his head having felt that they were a little stiff. He had eaten breakfast with his friends and family just minutes before his current action which was to head towards his office. Tsuna had instructed the head butler; Sergio was his name, to tell his guardians to come towards the meeting room. Though, with only three guardians available, three away on a trip and one comatose was proving what he was going to tell them was pointless but he had to. They did ask for it. Tsuna glanced at the other three rings in the box. A Cloud Vongola ring, a Mist Vongola ring and apparently, a duplicate Vongola ring. Tsuna had to admit, he was a bit surprised on how he got it.

_**Last night**_

_Tsuna jolted sending the lion cub to fall of his grasp when Talbot opened the door, strode over to where the brunet was currently sitting up and handed Tsuna a few more rings._

"_The box animals?" Tsuna asked confused as to why the maker did not give him before._

"_Yes and one more thing." Talbot then handed Tsuna another ring, almost similar to the Mist Vongola ring, though with a different design. "I suspect that since you now have two Mist guardians both present, you would feel conflicted on whom to give the ring to. It's better to have this ready now then when you would ask for me to construct one later."_

_Tsuna was a bit speechless at the amount of rings in his hands. Then a question struck him. "What- "_

_Talbot interrupted Tsuna before the question could even finish. "The power for that second Mist ring is lower than that of a Vongola Mist ring. But, it is higher than those A-rank mist rings. The Tri-ni-Set can't be tempered. Now, I'll be going."_

_**Back to the present**_

He placed the two rings on his desk before hearing the knock on the door.

"Come in."

Dino entered the room, worry present in his eyes when he couldn't at all see that Tsuna had made it safely back to the mansion yesterday. Most of it cleared away when his eyes laid upon the brunet rushing towards him and engulfing Tsuna in a hug. Tsuna patted Dino on the back awkwardly. Dino released him a few minutes later but still keeping his hands on Tsuna's shoulders. He cracked a smile.

"I'm glad to see you're okay, otouto."

"There was no need to worry about me, you know," Tsuna said as warmly as he could despite the seriousness he needed to be.

"I know." Dino replied, removing his hands from the brunet's shoulder, "And? What did you call me here for?"

Tsuna picked a Vongola ring, addressing to Dino, "Don Chiavarone, I need you to deliver this immediately."

Dino eyed the Vongola ring, noticed the light reflecting from the purple stone and the formal tone used by Tsuna. "Hmm… A chance to visit my cute pupil again? It would be my honour, Vongola Decimo."

Tsuna inclined his head appreciatively. "I have intel that he's still in Messina. It would be best if you leave as soon as you are prepared."

"Alright, though, knowing Kyoya, he'll reject them."

"He won't. If you-" Tsuna handed Dino a letter, "give him this first."

Dino eyed the parchment with curiosity but Tsuna sent a secret smile on his way silencing any questions he had. Dino looked over Tsuna once more before mentioning to the brunet, "I've already told your friends to wait for you in the meeting room. Talbot told me to pass a message to you saying, he's curious about your two new recruits."

"Shoichi and Spanner?"

Dino nodded. "I best get on my way then. I'll see you in a few days or maybe weeks. Make sure you take care of yourself, Tsuna."

"I will."

* * *

><p><strong>In the Meeting Room<strong>

The three remaining guardians sat quietly in the room a bit forlorn at what happened yesterday. Even with the recovery of their Vongola rings which should have brought joy, did little to make the mood lighter.

"It's my fault." Lambo said. Ryohei and Yamamoto swivelled their heads to the youngest. "If I was strong enough, then Gokudera-shi wouldn't be in this state right now. I bet Vongola blames me for this."

Yamamoto frowned at Lambo. The teen hadn't said much about what happened yesterday and Yamamoto knew what Gokudera would do at the moment – hit him on the head. However, he wasn't Gokudera, and bringing any habit Gokudera would do might upset him more. "Tsuna wouldn't do that, Lambo. You told us yourself didn't you; Gokudera was acting by his own actions."

"That doesn't matter! The fact is Takeshi-nii is that I'm always seen as the weak one. I'm always being protected! Like how I wasn't aware that Vongola was never really there! I only noticed after our past selves went back. Whenever I went back to the past because of the ten year bazooka, I acted my normal self. Why didn't you let me know?!"

Yamamoto opened his mouth to answer the teen but couldn't find the heart to say it. Fortunately, Ryohei answered and prevented the situation from becoming worse. "Actually Lambo, we did."

Lambo stared at the boxer. "What?"

"The shock was a bit too much for you and I-pin that it momentarily caused both of you to forget the trauma. That's the reason why you acted normal in the past. And..." Ryohei paused unsure whether to keep going.

Lambo looked onwards what he considered to be his older brothers. "And what Ryo-nii?"

"Hayato told us to let you be. You did recover at some point and remembered that Tsuna died," Yamamoto spat the last word out, continuing from where Ryohei left from. He never wanted to use that word associating with Tsuna. "But, I think because of the timeline trying to fix itself up, it cause some effects."

Lambo stayed silent.

Yamamoto continued. "Do you remember the ring succession battle?" A small nod was all he needed to continue. "I don't think we told you this but when you jumped into the ten year bazooka and the Lambo from twenty years later showed up, he looked nostalgic at us. The fact is Lambo, your twenty or should I say ten years later self from now on, remembered what happened. That's what Gokudera came up with."

Lambo glanced at the ring situated on his finger. 'A little shock and I forgot that fact. What kind of Lightning guardian am I?'

Ryohei spoke up. "It's not that you're weak Lambo. It's just that right now you're a teenager who should enjoy life to his fullest. Tsuna told us that. He didn't want you to be caught up in all this drama."

A few minutes of silence continued after Ryohei's statement. The two elders looked at each other and wondered if they did get through their youngest. Lambo spoke, "Thanks, Ryo-nii, Takeshi-nii. I won't blame myself anymore."

A brief exhale from the two showed how relieved they were at managing to avoid a setback.

"But, that doesn't mean, I won't try to be stronger," Lambo mumbled his resolve.

"What was that Lambo?" Ryohei asked. The teen shook his head and looked towards them, "Nothing you should worry about. Ore-sama will be fine."

Before Ryohei could ask about whatever Lambo had resolved about, the door to the room opened with Tsuna at its entrance. "I hope you weren't waiting that long," Tsuna said.

Yamamoto answered with a small grin, "It wasn't that long at all."

"YEAH, SAWADA!" Ryohei responded enthusiastically in the moment and Tsuna had to cringe at his guardian's loud voice. He turned to his youngest guardian and was disturbed to find no sassy remark from the teen. Tsuna made a mental note to ask Lambo later.

"As you all know, due to yesterday's… incidents," Tsuna grimaced, "I promised that I would tell you how the Vongola Rings managed to exist."

Tsuna explained to them, the matter of Shoichi coming to Tsuna during his high school years which led to him to contact Talbot the ring maker and asking if destroying the Vongola Rings would have any effect to the world. Once he said no, Tsuna carried on his plans as per usual and announced when he was deemed Vongola Decimo that the rings had to be destroyed.

Much to the expected, many protested even his guardians were reluctant to give but they did give in to the end. A week before the conflict of possession of rings started.

"Talbot wanted to examine them before I destroyed them in front of you." Tsuna informed them. "He switched them."

Yamamoto was surprised followed by Ryohei, Lambo stared ahead; his face devoid of emotion. "And before you asked if I sensed the switch, it was a week before the struggle for possessing rings and some time before Byakuran got started. With the plans I made with Shoichi beforehand and trying to proceed with it as discreetly as possible, I didn't notice."

"I think I get it." Yamamoto said. "Senpai?"

Ryohei 'hmm' aloud, thinking deeply about what Tsuna explained. "A bit."

"A shame though," Yamamoto wistfully said, "I never did get to meet Jirou and Koujirou again."

"I miss Kangaryuu to the extreme."

"I don't think you need to worry about that," Tsuna smiled. And with a flick of his wrist, the two guardians expertly caught the tiny object. Onto further inspection, faces of their beloved box animals were engraved. Tsuna handed Lambo his box animal. The teen took it gratefully.

"Jirou! Koujirou!" Yamamoto was beaming with happiness, summoning them.  
>"Kangaryuu!" Ryohei copied Yamamoto's actions and soon enough 3 animals occupied the room. Tsuna continued to look towards the scene. It was moments like this that Tsuna was grateful they stuck by his side.<p>

Tsuna coughed and gain the attention of his friends. "I'm sorry I couldn't give them to you sooner. Talbot handed to me last night after I already gave you your rings back."

"It's alright, Tsuna. They're here now." Yamamoto assured his boss. Ryohei put an arm over his animal shoulder, grinning happily and began to shout some exercises to train together. The brunet looks at Lambo who merely focused on Gyuudon; not summoning him at the moment.

"Lambo, can I talk to you outside for a while?" Tsuna asked.

"Sure, Vongola," he replied.

Tsuna exited the room and motioned for Lambo to walk with him for a bit away from his other guardians' ears. "How are you doing?"

Lambo glanced up to Tsuna. "You don't have to worry, Tsuna-nii. Takeshi-nii and Ryo-nii, talked with me. I'm not blaming myself. And Gokudera-shii would pound me on the head if I had any thoughts about it." The teen curled his lips at the last statement.

"That's good to hear." Tsuna hugged the teen, startling Lambo of his stupor. He released the young boy a few minutes later and held him at arm's length, "If you have anything else, just come talk okay?" Lambo nodded still a bit dazed at the affectionate gesture.

Tsuna walked away, satisfied that one of his guardians wasn't feeling guilty at all. Yet, he couldn't put his finger that somehow, Lambo had changed a bit.

* * *

><p><em><strong>400+ years in the past <strong>_

"Is anyone inside?" Giotto called out. A distant voice called out. _"Is there anyone out there? Please, anyone?!" _Giotto wide eyed at the fact someone was trapped quickly hurried to the voice. Though it was getting harder to breathe, Giotto covered his nose with his sleeve, so as to not choke on the smoke. Vaguely, he could hear the voice calling softer and softer. He sidestepped the burning wood and rushed into the room. A boy that could barely reach his height was lying down on the floor. Giotto shook him and he coughed twice. That alone was enough was the blond. He stooped down to carry him. It was hard enough as he was only seven years at the moment. Added to the fact time was running out. Between these thoughts, he never saw the figure rising from the floor, a malicious look on its face.

Giotto felt the floor gave way from beneath his feet and a sudden cracking noise filling the air. The heat in the air was making it harder for him to keep his eyes open and with the pressure on his back; he could no longer breathe in normally. In a few minutes he lost conscious not hearing what was being said.

"_I have no grudge against you Vongola Primo, but I'm sorry to have you die at a young age."_

…

He looked back and wondered where the kid that was persistently following from the past month or so was. He didn't miss the guy. He was glad he was gone. But there was unsettling feeling in his gut that wouldn't just go away. 'Hah! I think he finally got the message. But even with that thought; he kept twisting his neck just to have evidence that the blonde-Giotto, whatever he was called was going to pop out any moment. A twitch visible on his face when there was still no sign of the kid coming.

He was supposed to cry out in relief or happiness into finding out he was no longer being followed. But instead he ran through town searching for the kid, looking for signs of trouble. He deduced from the bright personality and the kindness the blond possessed where there is trouble, Giotto would sure follow. He continued running till he saw the still burning house.

'He isn't idiotic enough to go through is he?'

As fate would have it, he overheard a conversation. "A boy went inside ten minutes ago and still hasn't come out yet."

"Oh my! What was he thinking? Rushing into a burning house like that."

With those two snippets of the conversation, he wasn't going to wait any longer. The boy took a deep breath, covered his lower face with a piece of cloth and rushed into the burning house.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Future 400+ years<strong>_

It was a miracle for Tsuna, actually. A few minutes ago, he was heading towards his office intended to finish off the rest of his paperwork. With his two most destructive guardians away, he could work in peace. And the next thing he knew, he was slumped to the floor, breathing in and out harshly. His whole body felt sweaty and he could feel his hands clam up. He forced himself to lean against the wall, hissing in pain at the pressure on his back. The only thing Tsuna was thankful about was whatever this was; it did not happen in front of his friends. They would most certainly not lay off his back until they knew what certainly was wrong with Tsuna. 'What is going on?' Tsuna didn-couldn't have more thoughts than that as even thinking became hard.

In another part of the Vongola household where Iemitsu was getting cuddly with Nana, a pressure on his back came out of the sudden. At the abrupt yet less pained one than Tsuna, he easily concealed it though this action Nana looked at him. Iemitsu gave her a reassuringly smiled. The pressure came and went in a minute. It left the ex-head of CEDEF to wonder if all the injuries from his mafia days were coming again.

Tsuna could feel his own body shaking. Dimly, a strange occurrence became happening as maybe it was due to whatever was happening to the young Don or the fact that he was almost to the point of delirious, giving the impression of his hand becoming translucent.

* * *

><p><em><strong>In the past<strong>_

It was getting to see harder in the burning house but the boy was determined to find the blond. The house was coming down fast even with the people outside trying to douse the fire. 'Damn it. How hard can it be to find him?' He spent a few minutes avoiding the fire and cursed himself for being slow. He came across a room where in his haste to find the kid, he almost missed spotting him. The boy rushed inside and was shocked to find a piece of the house had collapsed on top of the blond. He could see he was unconscious. With adrenaline feeling his blood, he shook the blonde, getting laboured coughs. "Oi, wake up! Come on, this is no time for you to be asleep!" The blonde twitched at the shout but he was still half out of his unconscious state. Annoyed at the fact, he bluntly shouted, "GIOTTO! WAKE THE HELL UP!"

Immediately, Giotto woke but still slightly disorientated. "Huh? What?"

At the reassuring sight that the blond was not dead yet, he continued, "You idiota! I told you what would happen if you kept helping people! Now look at where you are now!"

Giotto blinked; shocked at finding the boy he wanted to know from the past month standing in front of him. He tried to stand up and was then aware of the heavy pressure on his back. He wiggled but there was no move. He was stuck. At seeing the action, the boy tried to push it off. But two seven year old trying to get a heavy load off was clearly impossible.

"You should leave me here." Giotto calmly said. "Go out. There's another boy in here too."

"What?"

"Like I said-" He was cut off from finishing his sentence as he was whacked on the head by the said boy.

"Ow!"

"If you ever say that in front of me ever again, I would revive you and then kill you." Giotto clammed up, a bit frightened at the scary look adorned on the boy's face. "And there's no other boy! Where's all the talk about helping people if you're gonna end up dead!"

Giotto infuriated and with the situation of possibly going to die shouted, "Don't you see?! I'm stuck! I can't push it off me! You can't lift it! Both us combined can't lift it!"

The boy shut his mouth at the outburst. His eyes lined with determination. "I'll prove you wrong then." He grabbed the wood unaware that his hands were glowing with a faint red hue. Giotto was also preoccupied as it became more unbearable to breathe. He started to cough again. The boy resolved at getting the only person who ever acknowledged him strained against the weight of the debris which was slowly being degenerated by the red hue on his hands. He grunted and with a burst of strength lifted it off Giotto. He then grabbed the coughing kid, and hurried to get out of the house. And not a moment too soon as the whole building collapsed. They however did not stop running, as the boy rushed towards a small river with the still coughing Giotto being half lead by him. A cup was thrust into his face.

"Drink." Giotto obeyed after managing to get at least the last of the smoke out of his lungs. After a few more cups of water, Giotto felt able to talk.

"Thanks." The boy nodded his head putting his hands into his pocket. A minute too late as Giotto saw the blistered skin. He forcefully took them out.

"What happened to your hands? You got burned didn't you?" Giotto exclaimed.

The boy scoffed, saying "It's nothing. I didn't get burned. After I lifted the debris off you, my hands were red. That's all."

Giotto frowned. "They still look like burns. Oh!" He then took out some bandages from his pocket and a salve.

The boy looked on, astonished at seeing such items. Giotto sheepishly chuckled. "My grandparents gave me at ever since they learn I come home with scratches and small cuts."

The boy raised an eyebrow. 'I bet they came off from helping people.'

Giotto understood the silent question and blushed at the accusation. It was enough for the boy to know. 'Seriously, this boy doesn't even put his self-first. A real selfless kid, huh?' A sigh came out.

Giotto blinked at the sudden self-resigning sigh from the boy. "What's the matter? Is something wrong? Um…"

"G."

"What?"

"My name."

"…" Giotto titled his head, processing the few lines before a grin grew on his face. "G?"

"What?! Got a problem with my name?!"

"Not at all, I like it. It sounds really cool. Like you!"

Taken back by the compliment, G scratched his cheek which was rosy in colour. Meanwhile, Giotto was happy at finally getting to know the person. "Wait a minute. Does this mean that we're friends?"

G glanced towards Giotto. "If not, why the h*** would I tell you my name?"

Giotto not at all convinced. He was glad to finally get along with the boy-G, but maybe because of his persistence, G found him annoying in reality.

G figured out the thoughts muddling the blonde spoke up. "If you want to know the real reason then, it's because this really selfless kid keeps getting into trouble and worries me. Not to mention, he was the only person who wanted to actually know me."

A few minutes past before Giotto respond. G thought that he might not have gotten through and then, "G, you shouldn't swear."

G rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>Shichirou looked onwards. Well, he knew it wasn't going smoothly. After initiating a fire, he simply waited for pre-Vongola Primo to come and behold, he came a few moments later. 'As a first trial, not bad. Not bad at all. If Vongola Decimo showed no symptoms, then I'll just take care of the tenth generation myself. But if it does…' The Millefiore regent allowed himself to sport a smirk.<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>400+ years - Back to the present<strong>_

**Messina**

Hibari growled. The herbivore was of no help whatsoever. He kept repeating the same two lines, "I obey no one." and "The Millefiore family still lives!" And even those two lines were practically useless. It was like he was hypnotised or something. Hibari narrowed his eyes. A certain illusionist came across his mind. It was entirely possible as it was done before. Taking out his phone, he began to call Kusakabe to search the Estraneo family's experimental records.

**Comune Leonforte**

Chrome and Mukuro stayed together, tracking down the Giglio Nero and resting only when Chrome was tired much as she stubbornly said she wasn't. They had come down to Comune Leonforte. So far, they had no luck in finding the surviving members of the Black Spell. Chrome had an inkling that somehow they were here. But… she glanced to Mukuro who had a devious smile on his face. Leaving a mist illusion of herself with Mukuro who was bit preoccupied with tearing the insanity of some low life criminal, Chrome wrapped mist flames to disguise herself and went to investigate.

**Sicily, Vongola Mansion**

Tsuna carefully stood up. His knees were shaking and his nerves were tingling with pain. Tsuna willed his legs to move after that sudden attack. Truthfully, all he wanted to do know was rest at the very spot. But that would allow one of the household members to come across his resting body which would initiate a house full of panic. And with his mother still here, Tsuna would very much like it to be quiet as it should be at the moment. He pressed on. Slumping against the wall every few minutes or so, then continuing towards his room. With his room in sight, Tsuna open the door, entering, then closing and locking with what seemed to spend the remaining of his energy. He lay down on his bed, and closed his eyes, falling onto the unconscious. A faint glow from the rings revealed to be Natsu and Giotto looking on to Tsuna.

Natsu stayed by his master's side. He knew what was exactly happening as he was part of what had transpired last night. Giotto smiled sadly at the sight.

"_Try to get as much rest as you can, Tsunayoshi. It'll be a hard path from now."_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, I've updated the summary, cover pic and the story. (0.0)Truth be told I wasn't exactly sure how Chapter 9 was going to turn up. There was a lot of issues. Onward to the fellow readers for favouriting/following this story: Tsunayoshi Decimo,BlackAndWhiteRoseWolf, Jayrynn,BreeTannerHuang and miezi10. Thank you!** **So..Giotto and G might be a little OC cause even have no clue how they were when they were seven. And after this is just some meddling of mine that I wanted to do after I wrote it out and wondered what would happened if it went wrong. Any questions just ask. I'll clarify them. I hope this chapter wasn't too mushed up. I wanted the plot to go. Until next time and no preview, sorry. Chapter 10 hasn't been physically formed yet.**

* * *

><p><strong>ToGP NGs <strong>

**Note: Here, the characters are actors in this case, it never happened but this is merely a possibility of the story being directed instead of written and you know that mistakes happen during acting. Just a bit of humour, I think?**

The boy left on the floor, coughed and spat blood on the sidewalk, wincing at the pain and thankfully there were no bruises visible, yet.

"You okay?"

He looked towards the voice and saw a blonde kid about the same age as him looking worried, holding his hand out. He slapped it away. However, the boy mistook the distance between them and unexpectedly slapped the blonde on the face. Both boys were shocked at what happen till the blonde begins to tear up.

"Cut! Ah… I really didn't expect that. Can someone wipe off seven year old Giotto's tears off and really, G?"

"It was an accident! Wah! Don't cry!" Seven year old G was fruitlessly trying to calm mini-Giotto.

"Guess we need to retake this again and...Oh. You guys aren't supposed to be here." The director directed the last statement to Vongola Primo and his Storm guardian. Apparently both didn't hear the author when they witnessed the said scene.

"You slapped me." Giotto said in monotone.

"What?!" G asked in surprised. "I never slapped you." Giotto pointed to the scene before him. "That doesn't count! Our past is being messed up."

"Still…"

"Oi, oi, Primo. You saw it. It was an accident." Giotto's response was to walk away from his best friend. "Giotto! Really?" G chased after him out of the studio.

"What happened?" Tsuna asked, having finishing eating lunch with his friends.

"Apparently Primo and G saw their younger selves. Though it was an accident, Giotto got slapped by G." Tsuna winced at the last statement. "Are they going to be okay?"

"Don't worry too much. I'm sure-"

"_PRIMO! PRIMO! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! IT WASN'T EVEN ME!"_

"_What's wrong with Primo?"_

"_I caught him mumbling saying that G slapped him."_

"_What? Really?"_

"_Slapping Primo, First gen Storm guardian? I thought you were better than that."_

"_OH MY ******* GOODNESS. IT DIDN'T EVEN HAPPEN! TAKE THAT SMUG GRIN OFF YOUR FACE, LAMPO! I SAW THAT!"_

Distantly, the two could hear sounds of chaos. "I'll go check on Jii-san and the others." Tsuna hurriedly went off the scene and the director looked back towards the two characters.

"Alright, take five, everyone. We'll start again once the noise level goes down!"

Owari~


End file.
